ROMANIAN EX-PRESIDENT SPEAKS OF UNIFICATION POSSIBILITIES

Ex-President of Romania Traian Basescu believes that the unification [Unire] of the Republic of Moldova and Romania is possible – by mutual agreement of the two countries.

On Thursday evening, Basescu was guest of the Chisinau Press Club and said in particular that unification of the two countries may be achieved by holding a referendum or just by voting in the Parliaments of Moldova and Romania.

“Presently, the Unire idea is supported in Romania by the entire political class and 80% population. In Moldova, the situation is different: unification is backed by 21% to 28% citizens. But some time ago, there were only 3%-4% supporters here. So, the situation is changing. And I will be promoting this. When I was president, I set two main tasks to myself – to bring Romania into NATO and into the European Union. We have solved those tasks. Now there is a 3rd national-importance goal for us – unification of the Republic of Moldova and Romania”, stated Basescu.

Asked what he thinks will be the attitude of the next-door neighbors – Ukraine, Hungary and Bulgaria – to the unification, the ex-president replied, “This problem concerns exclusively two countries – Romania and the Republic of Moldova”.

“I read documents attentively and I know that the unification question can be solved only through negotiations between the two countries. The Helsinki Charter [1975] stipulates that two countries may change their borders upon a mutual agreement. If two countries decide, nobody can prevent them, the more so that there already is a precedent in Europe – the unification of the two Germanys”, reminded Basescu.

Answering a question about the territory, which was a part of Romania [before 1939], but now belongs to Ukraine, the ex-president said, “We need to be realists”.

“Romania cannot bring back the lands that belonged to it by law before the signature of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. As for the Moldovan territory till the Dniester, it can well be returned. And as for the Transnistrian region – this is a matter of negotiations with Russia, with an account of Ukraine’s interests. If it turns out that Transnistria is as strategically important territory for Russia as the Kaliningrad oblast [an enclave region of Russia on the Baltic Sea separated from the mainland Russia by Lithuania and Belarus, the former Prussia Kingdom of Germany until 1945], then we will be not able to return Transnistria. But Transnistria cannot be an obstacle to the Unire. We should be ready for yielding to little compromises for the sake of achieving a big goal”, said Traian Basescu.

He is convinced that unification with Romania will be good for Moldova because the republic has no other chances whatsoever to get integrated into Europe.

“I want to ask: is there at least one politician who was told in Brussels that upon fulfilling all stipulated conditions Moldova will be accepted to the European Union?! If somebody tells me that yes there is, then I will take off my hat and leave. But there is none! I would like your politicians to say honestly what the perspectives are, and also to recognize that Moldova cannot be neutral. To be neutral, the neutrality of a state must be recognized by other countries as well. But there is none of it. Instead of this, Russia has brought in its troops to Transnistria and has occupied it. Is it really neutrality?” wondered the ex-president.

Basescu said that Moldova’s development and movement towards the European Union is complicated inter alia by the domestic situation, “because there are parties in Moldova pulling the republic in the opposite direction”.

“The situation here differs cardinally from the one that was in Romania at the moment of our integration into the European Union. There were various parties in Romania, including radical and extremist ones, but there were no parties that were standing against achieving the country’s strategic goals. For Moldova, there is only one way out – reunification into a united country. Moldova needs Romania like Romania needs Moldova”, stressed Traian Basescu.

Asked if his participation in the National Unity Party (NUP) is “a project of Democratic Party leader Vlad Plahotniuc” who is interested to have NUP Chairman Anatol Salaru in the next Moldovan Parliament, Basescu replied: “It is my personal project, and not Plahotniuc’s. As President of Romania, I set 3 main tasks for the Party – accession to NATO, accession to the European Union, and return of the Republic of Moldova. The former two tasks have been achieved, and the third one is to be realized with the PUN’s assistance. And I am doing this as a politician and a Romania citizen”.