Visits to Chishinau

The pro-western administration in the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population) starts to pick the fruit of a courageous endeavour. The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Crin Antonescu and the US Secretary

Bogdan Matei, 05.12.2013, 12:10

Undeterred by the pressure exerted by Russia, without being tempted to follow Ukraine’s model, which abandoned its European path in the last moment, the Government and Presidency of the Republic of Moldova chose, a week ago, to initial the EU Association and Free Trade Agreements, respectively. Thus, Chishinau was soon to become the favourite destination of Western envoys, who visited Moldova to congratulate and encourage the Moldovan leaders.

One of the first leaders to visit Chishinau, the Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Crin Antonescu, has given assurances that neighbouring Romania will be the first country to waive visas for Moldovan citizens, once Brussels makes such a decision. Pundits in Bucharest, however, have underlined that Antonescu didn’t visit Chisinau in the last 14 years.

They speculated on this visit paid by a presidential hopeful who tries to win over a potential electorate, ahead of next year’s presidential election. This electorate is made up of Moldovan citizens who hold dual citizenship. And it is worth mentioning that hundreds of thousands of Moldovans have a Romanian passport. The agenda of the visit however measures up to the position he is holding, being the second high-ranking official in Romania.

During the talks with the Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Igor Corman, Antonescu reiterated the following: “In Romania, which is a EU member state, there is complete political consensus between all political forces, at the level of all official institutions Presidency-Government-Parliament to support the Republic of Moldova in its effort to associate with and join the European Union.”

In his turn, Corman has expressed his gratitude for Bucharest’s consistent support for Chishinau’s European aspirations and underlined: “It is in our interest to develop a normal, natural relation between two neighbouring countries, two friendly states, and we count very much on Romania’s further support, in the effort to implement the European agenda of the Republic of Moldova”.

European integration is the best guarantee for a safe and prosperous future, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry said on Wednesday, too. He paid a short visit to the Republic of Moldova to send a message of support for the country’s pro-European option. He said he paid the visit to Chishinau to congratulate the Moldovan people for having initialled both the EU Association and Free Trade Agreements, at the Vilnius summit last week. Kerry also promised the US will provide support to the Republic of Moldova, in its effort to complete and implement those agreements.

A worth mentioning detail is that after Ukraine refused to sign the agreements with the EU, Kerry refused to visit Kiev. His visit to Chishinau was the second by a US Secretary of State, after that by James Baker in 1992, shortly after the Republic of Moldova became independent.