Now that geopolitical circumstances have changed, Romania can play a greater role in Moldova's Romanians fate, Iuliana Gorea Costin

Now that geopolitical circumstances have changed, Romania, as a NATO and EU member country, can play a more important role in the fate of the Romanians in the Republic of Moldova, stated Iuliana Gorea Costin, president of the European Association for Political Strategies and former Moldova's envoy to the Council of Europe, in an interview with the Romanian agency Inforusia.ro. Asked to review the relationship between the Republic of Moldova and Romania, from the stage of the “flower bridges” to “pragmatic relations” to coldness and indifference, Iuliana Gorea Costin said that the “flower bridges” had been a natural stage after decades of estrangement, and the reactions that characterized the “bridges” burst with emotions, soulfulness, spirit. And then, the pragmatic relations stemmed from the understanding that Romania needed time to strengthen its positions on the international arena. The coldness came when the Communist government in Chisinau, “a backslider into the pattern of fealty to the former Soviet Union, seeking to remain in the good graces”, adopted the strategy which states that the best defense is a good offense. So, all that is Romanian, in the view of the Moldovan authorities, is now under constant attack. “They seem to forget that multiple citizenship, freedom of consciousness, democratic pluralism, and human rights are all values which Moldova is bound to respect as member of the Council of Europe. And the United Europe, which they say they are bound for, has no interior borders, it is a common space of values, including for trans-border television, freedom of movement for workforce and goods, for the single currency, etc.” Concerning prospects for the Moldo-Romanian relationship, Iuliana Gorea Costin suggested Romania should put an end to the practice of excusing itself and engage in dialogue with the civil society in the Republic of Moldova to help it advance in democratizing the society. She remarked that in the current geopolitical circumstances Romania could play a more important role in the fate of the Romanians in the Republic of Moldova, “who have always been deprived of free choice”. Costin believes that the remediation of the Moldo-Romanian relationship after the upcoming polls in both countries is possible only if the governing class in Chisinau is replaced. As an argument to this supposition, Costin says that in Romania, thanks to the new uninominal voting system, there is a possibility that people there will elect more critically and minutely, increasing the responsibility of the elected. “In Moldova, however, we are again the witnesses of different tricks meant to secure a new term for the Communists, and I mean the raised electoral threshold, the ban on electoral blocs, the interdiction of the right to be elected by all the citizens, the harassment of reporters, the manipulation of the people by the government-controlled media, the intimidation of businessmen, etc”. Iuliana Gorea Costin regrets the fact that Moldova's citizens are still kept in an information vacuum, that media representatives are encountering great difficulty in their natural urge to do their job right and in becoming, de facto, the fourth power.