Romania Supports Republic Of Moldova EU Accession Along West Balkan

Romania’s President Traian Basescu Friday said the east-European nation would continue to support its neighbor Republic of Moldova’s European Union integration to occur at the same time with that of the nations in the Western Balkans.

It would be "dramatic" if Repubic of Moldova would be left behind, and its EU accession timed with the one of Ukraine, said Basescu at a seminar on Romania’s international relations.

He added that Romania would not tire to explain the EU officials why Moldova’s accession should happen at the same time with that of the Western Balkan nations.

"The Romanian people can come together, for the time being, under the umbrella of the European Union," said Basescu. Romania and Republic of Moldova were part of the same state between 1918 and 1944, and share the same language. However, the official stance in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, may not be to support the above statement.

In fact, recent weeks had seen a strong offensive on the idea of same language, Romanian, being spoken in both countries. Bilingual high-schools had their names changed from Romanian-French language, or Romanian-English language high-schools, to Moldovan-French, or Moldovan-English language highs-schools, respectively.

When asked if Romania’s initiatives are met with a cold shoulder or not from Republic of Moldova, Basescu answered it was unfortunate that neither its neighbor nor the Russian Federation or Ukraine wanted Romania to take part in the negotiation for the return of the sessionist Transnistria region to Moldova.

"Of course, this attitude one may connect with the changes of high-school names they made," said Basescu.

"But I take it upon myself to not prompt a freeze of our bilateral relations, as it happened in 2000. After all, we should understand that Republic of Moldova is an independent state, free to take decisions in its Parliament and Government," added Basescu.

Addressing other areas of Romania’s foreign policy, Basescu said the country could not concentrate solely on its NATO and EU relations but it had to look other ways too.

Reinforcing relations with China and Japan, and aggressively pursue a rapprochement with the Arab states were high on the agenda, Basescu said.

"As for our relations with the Russian Federation, I have to admit that we have a different reading on what pragmatic relations are; but time will probably bring about an efficient cooperation, at least in the Black Sea area, if not beyond it," Basescu said.

He also addressed the issue of the liquefied gas-terminal the Qatari want to set at up at Constanta to supply Western Europe. "Europeans should show their interest in this project too, and chip in," said Basescu. "Romania cannot go it alone."

Translated by Anca Paduraru