IGOR DODON REFUSES TO MEET WITH TRAIAN BASESCU

Moldovan president-elect Igor Dodon has refused to meet ex-President of Romania Traian Basescu. Dodon wrote this on his social networks page, commenting on Basescu’s statement that Dodon must allegedly listen to his advices.

Traian Basescu, who spent the past weekend in Chisinau meeting with local voters in the course of the Romanian parliamentary campaign [largely through his effort, nearly 500 thousand Moldovans now have the Romanian citizenship and therefore are eligible to take part in Romanian elections], stated that he would advise the just elected President Dodon to “decide –without wasting time”.

“I took note of the statement made by Mr. Dodon who has lowered down his enthusiasm about Moldova’s movement towards the Customs Union [of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, known since January 1, 2015 as the Eurasian Economic Union, EAES] and said he would ask the [Moldovan] people if they want to go to the East or to the West. My advice to him is: don't waste time, take direction to the West. Dodon must bear in mind that I was president for 10 years, while he is just a trainee yet, so it would be good if he listened to my advice”, stated Basescu.

In reply, Igor Dodon wrote in the Facebook that apparently for this reason Basescu phoned him and asked for a meeting.

“Wanted to give me advice? But I don't need either his advices or his experience of a looser unionist [unionists are adherents to the idea of unirea – Moldova’s unification with Romania]. Sometimes it is better to have no political experience at all than to have the kind of experience he has”, wrote Igor Dodon.

He offered an opinion that after a resounding fiasco in Romania Basescu now wants to establish a party or a unionist movement in Moldova and is looking for ways to position himself closer to the Moldovan president, “but I am a Moldovan-statehood-minded politician”.

“So I wish Basescu success in a company of other advocates of Moldova-Romania unification. They are worth one another. As for me, I am open to communication with all who respect the Republic of Moldova statehood. In all the rest things – without offences”, wrote Dodon.

A few days ago, Dodon stated in an interview to the TVR state channel of Romania that he stands for the development of good relations with Romania but is categorically against unification of the two countries.

“I have never been an anti-Romanian, but I am an anti-unionist. Yes we have common historic roots, we are brothers, but each of us must have a home of his own. I love Romanians as our neighbors and friends, but they must not encroach on the statehood of the Republic of Moldova. We are running common projects with Romania, including in the energy sector, and they must be necessarily continued”, said Dodon.

The president-elect reaffirmed that his first visit after inauguration will be to Moscow, the second one – to Brussels, and the third – to Bucharest.

“I have decided to go to where we can resolve the most serious problems of our citizens. We must restore economic relations with Russia so that Moldovan economic operators could export to the Russian market. After that we will go to Brussels. It well may be that we will hold tripartite negotiations [Moldova, Russia, EU] to de-frost economic relations with Russia”, said Dodon.

He also wrote that last Sunday he went to Moscow though not as a president-elect but as a private person for his personal affairs.