Chisinau announces Bucharest it gives up opening Romanian consulates in Moldova

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration announces that the Embassy of Romania in Chisinau received Wednesday, March 14, an official Note by which Moldovan authorities withdraw the previous Note regarding the acceptance of opening Romanian Embassy’s temporary consular offices in Cahul and Balti intended for issuing Romanian visas for Moldovan citizens. The statement by the Moldovan Foreign Ministry was issued shortly after the affirmations made on Wednesday by former Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, according to which Bucharest did not receive any official notification from Chisinau related to the consulates that Romania plans to open in Cahul and Balti cities, and therefore the procedures regarding their opening have been continued. The opening of the two Romanian consular offices in Moldova was accepted by Chisinau authorities in October, while on January 16, during the visit to Chisinau of the Romanian President Traian Basescu, the two heads of state said that their inauguration may happen within “two weeks at most”. Later, after a series of tough statements made by Moldovan authorities against Bucharest, the Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan stated that Chisinau renounces the idea of opening consular offices in Balti and Cahul, as “they are no longer needed”.