Romania supports reforms in Moldova

Bucharests support is highly important for Moldova, says PM Pavel Filip

Bogdan Matei, 27.06.2017, 13:30

Still dramatically divided between those fostering Soviet nostalgias, on the one hand, and supporters of Western values, on the other hand, the Moldovan society was bound to generate conflicting political forces. The latest elections have led to a difficult cohabitation of a pro-Russian, Socialist president, Igor Dodon, and a heterogeneous coalition Cabinet supporting European integration, headed by the Democrat Pavel Filip. Since taking office, Dodon has travelled to Russia 3 times in less than half a year. Fillip on the other hand feels a lot more comfortable in Bucharest, Brussels and Strasbourg.

The 2014 signature of the association and free-trade agreements between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union has irritated Moscow, which banned imports from Chisinau. In turn, the countrys Western partners have difficulties tolerating the corruption in Moldova, culminating with the surreal vanishing of one billion US dollars, accounting for 15% of the countrys GDP, from the Moldovan banking system.

For fear that their money would be swallowed into a corruption black hole, the IMF, EU and World Bank have temporarily suspended credit lines for Chisinau. At that time, Romania was the only one willing to give its neighbouring country a 150 million euro loan, with a 4 and a half years maturity and a preferential 1.45% interest rate.

Attending the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Monday, the PM of the Republic of Moldova acknowledged, in a statement for Radio Romanias correspondent in Strasbourg, the importance of Bucharests support:

Pavel Filip: “Romanias support is very important to us and I would like to express my gratitude to our friends in Bucharest. We can see this support not only here, at the Council of Europe, but also at home, on a daily basis. When the Republic of Moldova went through its most difficult times, namely last year when our financing sources were all cut out, Romania was the one that gave us a first loan, which was necessary if we were to return to a normal course of events in Chisinau. Not to mention a lot of other forms of help that Romania gives to the Republic of Moldova, such as the refurbishing and building of hundreds of kindergartens, or the provision of school buses. But I think the most important thing for us is the constant support that Romania offers for our efforts to join the EU.

This support is in fact a constant element of Bucharests foreign policy. Created on a part of Romanias eastern territory annexed by Stalins Moscow in 1940, the Republic of Moldova proclaimed its independence on august 27, 1991, and Romania was the first country in the world to recognise the new state. And ever since, regardless of the political affiliation of its governments, Romania has been the most steady supporter and advocate of the independence, integrity and European integration of the Republic of Moldova.