Bucharest-Chisinau relations in an election year
The relations between the Moldova and Romania rise and fall with the stakes of the elections in this ex-Soviet state
Bogdan Matei, 12.02.2020, 13:50
Running for a second term in office this year, the Socialist pro-Russian president Igor Dodon resorts to statements that are often conflicting. On Tuesday, in a meeting with the Moldovan ambassadors abroad, he said the enforcement of the Association Agreement with the EU, signed in 2014 by the previous, pro-Western government, remains one of the foreign policy priorities for the Republic of Moldova.
In addition to what he called “strengthening relations with the EU, the incumbent Moldovan president also insisted on the importance of bilateral relations with Moscow and Bucharest. He mentioned that in April the country will celebrate 10 years since signing a strategic cooperation and partnership with Romania, and added that at present there are no delicate issues or disagreements with Bucharest.
A lot more cautious, the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu told his EU counterparts that Moldovas efforts to implement the obligations undertaken with respect to the European Union must be closely and strictly monitored. Experts in Chisinau, quoted by Radio Romania correspondents, argue that the Socialist government only goes through the motions of implementing the accession deal with Brussels, and that its statements are not followed by the required reforms.
Political analyst Ion Tabarta says that the supposedly balanced foreign policy that Chisinau claims to be embracing is in fact an attempt at redirecting it towards Moscow and at accommodating Russias interests. The media mention a recent statement by Moldovas foreign minister, Aureliu Ciocoi, regarding the allegedly peace-making role of the Russian Army in the armed conflict of 1992, when Chisinau lost authority over the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniester. At the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999, Russia pledged to pull out its troops and military equipment from the Moldovan territory, but so far it has barely taken any steps to keep its commitments.
Last month, the Romanian Academy felt bound to respond to the downpour of political statements in Chisinau. The highest scientific body in Bucharest called on the authorities of Moldova to preserve the appropriate and traditional concepts of “Romanian language and “the history of Romanians in their official documents. The Academy voiced concern with the attempts by Chisinau officials to reintroduce the phrase “Moldovan language, concocted by the Soviet propaganda, and argues that there is no such thing as a Moldovan language, but rather a Romanian language with several varieties, including the Moldovan one.
The concepts of “Moldovan language and “Moldovan nation were introduced by Stalins Moscow to justify Russias annexing the eastern Romanian territories on which the current Republic of Moldova was formed. According to the latest opinion poll, 34% of the Republics citizens favour a re-union with Romania.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
