Moldova, in the light of Romania’s EU membership. Press review

17 years after removing the communist regime and following 7 years of negotiations with Brussels officials, Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union, as part of the fifth enlargement wave. As a result the EU borders have significantly moved eastward. Now Romania shares over two thousand kilometres of border with two non-member countries, but with important Romanian communities: Moldova and Ukraine, “Ziua” daily writes. European officials are concerned about the security of the customs points with Moldova, especially of the border crossing point in Galati, pleading for a better monitoring of its activity, EuroNews reports. Moldovan citizens are also worried about the conditions of passage to Romania, taking into account that the post-accession period requires a visa regime for the Moldovan citizens. In the context, many of them preferred to spend the New Year’s night in the "last train" to Romania, in order to avoid complicated formalities and interminable queues while submitting visa application forms, which include as many as 43 questions. According to the agreement regarding the visa regime signed in 2006 between Bucharest and Chisinau, the visas are issued free of charge, but the applicant must prove that he/she have enough money to stay in Romania, Mediafax specifies. Yet, Bucharest seems to recognise some shortcomings related to the new transit regime, President Traian Basescu telling EuroNews that the authorities are framing a strategy designed to break the created deadlock, concerning Moldovan citizens’ obligation to have a visa. The visa regime is not the only change for them, the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest promising last year to amend the Law (1991) regarding the granting of Romanian citizenship with a view to simplifying it, given that in the last year there were over 400.000 requests on the part of their neighbours. Moldova was mentioned once again in the presidential speech delivered on the eve of the New Year. Traian Basescu made reference to the "Romanians in Moldova". "We had a hard time, but we reached an end of the way and we start going another way, the way towards victory, towards joy. Today we are ready to be members of the EU because you, each Romanian in Romania, each Romanian settled abroad wanted to. Maybe the Romanians in Moldova, Ukraine, Serbia and Bulgaria, Hungary and Romanians from all over the world wanted to enjoy this event too", said Basescu. “Evenimentul Zilei” publication writes that the free trade agreements signed by Romania and Bulgaria with Moldova have been suspended, as of January 1, 2007, once the two states have joined the EU. Moldova exports goods to the unique market on the basis of a system that supposes shipment of about 7.200 names of products to the EU without customs duties. This system does not include certain products like sugar, wine, meat products, which are traditionally exported by Moldova. Romania ranks the third among the main trade partners of Moldova, while Bulgaria is among the first 15 partner-countries. In relation to Romania’s accession to EU, “Cotidianul” makes reference to a case occurred several years ago, when a delegation of officials from the Western Europe arrived in Chisinau to discuss details about a cooperation with Moldova. “The aim of the respective meeting has failed because the Moldovan hosts have excessively socialised in an underground town full of glory and good wine near the capital of Moldova”, says the newspaper. According to the portal Ziare.com, among the advantages of Romania’s accession to EU there is the Romanians’ possibility to cross the border to the states of the Union as other European citizens, so as to be able to work in more European countries, to benefit from pensions at the level of the countries they worked in. The reverse of the medal would be the fact that the country would encounter a scarcity of labour force in some fields, because many Romanians will prefer to work abroad, for much higher salaries. The most severe shortage is expected in the field of constructions. The phenomenon of the deficiency of labour force is being felt already. Many eastern workers, for the most part unqualified, are being employed at Romanian factories. From Moldova to China, those who make ends meet are willing to come to Romania to earn some money, as here the salaries are consistently higher than in their native countries.