LIBERALS PROPOSE TO DIVORCE CIS “FOR THE SAKE OF SAVING MOLDOVA’S EUROPEAN PATH”

The pro-Romania parliamentary Liberal Party of Moldova has proposed Moldova’s secession from the Commonwealth of Independent States “to save the country’s European development path”, party leader Mihai Ghimpu said at a news conference on Friday.

He reminded that the governing Democratic Party has proposed to include the European integration into the Constitution as Moldova’s strategic objective, “but this is insufficient yet – it is necessary also to divorce the CIS”.

“This Commonwealth has not given us anything good. Moreover, our CIS membership is provoking questions asked by the European Commission and other European Union institutions”, believes Ghimpu.

Liberal MP Ion Apostol stated that Moldova’s joining the CIS in the early 1990s created nothing but problems for Moldova in the subsequent quarter of a century: almost immediately after the CIS accession agreement signing, an armed conflict broke out on the Dniester, “which has led to preservation of the presence of the Russian army in the Republic of Moldova territory”.

The deputy stressed that “Moldova annually spends about 7 million lei for the CIS structure maintenance. This means that we finance an organization that struggles against us!”

The Liberals said that yet one more argument in favor of quitting the CIS is the fact that Moldova’s trade turnover with the CIS as a whole and with Russia in particular “is shrinking in the European Union’s favor”.

Meanwhile President Igor Dodon stated over the local television earlier this week that if this legislative initiative is approved by the pro-European parliamentary majority, the Republic of Moldova will come to face tremendous risks: “The thing is, it is only thanks to the CIS and the accords working in its frame that nearly 600 thousand Moldovan labor migrants have the possibility to work in Russia – on the verge of legitimacy. Our anti-CIS initiators have no right to forget this”.

Dodon underlined that even if the secession decision is approved by the Parliament, it will hardly ever come into effect: “Officially, the process of secession from the Commonwealth of Independent States lasts 12 months. Meanwhile, already at the end of this year Moldova will hold a parliamentary election. The Party of Socialists will come to power and will cancel this decision, even if it adopted by the Parliament”.