Romaniaâs President Traian Basescu Friday said the east-European nation
would continue to support its neighbor Republic of Moldovaâs 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 Romaniaâs international relations.
He added that Romania would not tire to explain the EU officials why
Moldovaâs 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 Moldovaâs 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 Romaniaâs 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 Romaniaâs 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
Click Accept pentru a primi notificări cu cele mai importante știri!
