ROMANIAN LAWMAKER DISAPPROVES IDEA OF ACHIEVING UNIFICATION THROUGH REFERENDUM

Constantin Codreanu, a Member of the Parliament of Romania from the Popular Movement Party, has voiced a categorical disagreement with an idea to achieve "Moldova's reunification with Romania" through holding a referendum on the example of the Crimea.

He stated in the Chamber of the Deputies on Tuesday that "the annexation of the Crimea to the Russian Federation was realized through organizing a masquerade referendum".

"In Moldova, there are also Russian troops present, and the republic is controlled by Russian secret services. Russia, which has many times occupied Bessarabia [the historic territory between the Prut and Dniester Rivers plus a greater part of the present-day Chernovtsy and Odessa regions of Ukraine, which before 1940 belonged to the Kingdom of Romania], is once again trying to return Bessarabia without a referendum. So if we, the Bessarabian Romanians, want to get rid of the Russian occupation and control, must we do it only through a plebiscite?" wondered Codreanu.

In his words, a million Bessarabians have already rehabilitated their Romanian citizenship, "and this natural, free and steady process is more demonstrative than any referendum". "The process of our reunification will end on the day when the last Bessarabian will restore his Romanian citizenship. So we are not going to bite from the poisoned apple of the Moscow referendum", stated the Bessarabian Romanian.

As was already reported by Infotag, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Romania, Valery Kuzmin, has proposed an idea to hold a referendum on the question of Moldova's unification with Romania.

Speaking at the last week's conference called "The Development of Entrepreneurship Ties between Romania and Russia" held in Suceava city, Kuzmin remarked that the unification question is actively discussed by a part of the civil society and politicians on both Prut River sides.

"Working in his country, I have many a time heard people's thoughts about how Romania should get united with the Republic of Moldova - on the basis of the historic law or through a referendum. Bearing in mind these details, I would propose you to choose the referendum way. Taking into consideration that an analogous situation happened in the Crimea, for revising the borders one should also proceed from referendum results", presumes Valery Kuzmin, who was Russia's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Chisinau in 2007-2012.

According to latest opinion polls, in Moldova the idea of unification with Romania is favored by only 12% to 22% population. Despite this, the idea is actively promoted by a part of pro-Bucharest politicians in Moldova as well as by ex-President of Romania Traian Basescu who stated recently that the unification question can be solved through (1) holding a referendum on both sides of the Prut River or (2) through voting in the Parliaments of the two countries. In his opinion, the accession to Romania of Bessarabia is quite realistic, and "As for Transnistria, Romania should solve this question afterwards through negotiations with other interested parties".

Infotag's dossier: Constantin Codreanu, an ardent unionist, was elected to the Parliament of Romania in 2016 on the ticket of the Popular Movement party [Basescu's]. Born and raised in Moldova, Codreanu was one of the leaders of the Civil Platform "Actiunea 2012", uniting a number of Moldovan and Romanian non-governmental organizations supporting the idea of unification [Unirea] of the two countries. Later on, he came to head the National Unity Bloc. In the Romanian Parliament he represents the interests of the Romanian diaspora in foreign countries.