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Moldovan-Romanian joint commission to meet in session in Chisinau

Romanian MPs also plan sharing their experience of integration in various European institutions

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

CHISINAU, March 20 (Itar-Tass) – Parliaments of Moldova and Romania are expected to hold the first ever session of a joint commission for European integration here Tuesday, the press service of the Moldovan parliament said.

Upon the end of the session, the two countries’ MPs hope to issue a resolution on political support for Moldova’s accession to the EU.

Romanian MPs also plan sharing their experience of integration in various European institutions.

The joint commission for European integration was set up under the April 27, 2010, protocol on cooperation between the Moldovan and Romanian parliaments that was signed in Bucharest.

Although the two countries have an extremely close relationship in terms of language, history, culture, and religion, political relations between them have been ruffled over the past several years.

Romania, which recognized Moldova’s independence after the disintegration of the USSR, is in no hurry to sign a fundamental bilateral treaty, the coordination of which has been dragging feet for the past fifteen years.

Romanian President Trajan Basescu explains for this by saying his country is unwilling to recognize the results of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, under which the territory of Moldova went over to the USSR in 1940 after more than two decades of sojourn within a united Romanian kingdom.

Moldovans are apparently not very happy to hear these claims, as opinion polls show that 80% of Moldova’s incumbent population speaks out against a reunification with Romania.

Political tensions between the two countries flared up anew after the April 2009 post-election riots in Chisinau, in the course of which the rioters organized a rampage in the buildings of parliament and the Presidential Administration, smashing virtually everything to pieces inside and putting up Romanian national flags on the roofs.

Moldovan authorities accused Romania of interference in their country’s internal affairs then, introduced entry visas for the Romanian citizens and sent the Romanian ambassador packing.

However, the right-wing liberal Alianta pentru Integrare Europeana /the Alliance for European Integration/ that came to power after an early parliamentary election scrapped the precautionary measures, thus allowing the bilateral relations to warm up.

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