Commenting on a recent interview by ambassador of the Republic of Moldova in Bucharest Victor Chirila with Chisinau-based news agency Info-Prim Neo (IPN), chairman of the Joint Committee on European Integration between the Romanian and the Moldovan Parliament Valeriu Munteanu said that the diplomat committed a regrettable faux pas when stating that "if a president with conservative, populist tendencies is elected in Romania, developments could be uncertain, I don't want to pronounce in advance, but our visions may not always coincide." The ambassador "slipped down a dangerous slope of diplomatic interference with Romania's internal affairs," the Romanian MP said in a press statement.
As the official representative of the government of the Republic of Moldova in Bucharest, the ambassador's words inevitably reflect the position of the Chisinau administration, therefore "this type of insinuation, which places a possible conservative president in opposition to the 'vision' of the Moldovan government is unacceptable and must be firmly condemned," Munteanu said, noting also that it is regrettable that an official representative of the neighboring country's government suggests that the democratic choice of the Romanian people could affect the course of bilateral relations or would be in dissonance with the "visions" of the Moldovan authorities. "Romania is a democratic, sovereign state, in which only the Romanian citizens decide - freely and sovereignly - who their president will be: conservative or globalist, unionist or technocrat, patriot or progressive," the Romanian lawmaker emphasized.
Such statements, coming from an accredited ambassador, are not only inappropriate, but also potentially harmful to a strategic relationship that both states have undertaken to develop and deepen, he went on to note.
"As chairman of the Joint Committee on European Integration between the Parliament of Romania and the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, I respectfully but firmly draw the attention of the government in Chisinau and its diplomatic representatives that such slip-ups endanger the relationship of trust between the two Romanian states. Moreover, a historical, legal and moral truth must be reaffirmed: Bessarabia is Romanian land, and there are over a million Romanian citizens living today in the Republic of Moldova, who will actively participate in the election of the future president of Romania. Treating these Romanians as an 'external electorate' or questioning their right to express their electoral choice is a departure from the norms of democracy and national sovereignty," the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians deputy said.
"Romania has been, is and will remain the main support of the Republic of Moldova on its European path, but this common path must be based on trust, not on suspicions, political allusions or ideological interference," Valeriu Munteanu wrote in conclusion of his statement.
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