Moldova and Romania are close to severing relations. Moldova expelled two employees of the Romanian embassy on Wednesday and called its ambassador in Bucharest back for consultations. The Romanian Foreign Ministry intends to take responsive measures. This is the most heated conflict the countries have had in Moldova's 16 years of independence.
The conflict centers around a statement made by Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Filip Teodorescu late last month about the Paris Peace Accord of 1947, between the victor in World War Two and the allies of Nazi Germany. “The 1947 accord is a historical falsification that was signed because Romania was an occupied country,” Teodorescu declared, adding that it should no longer be referred to in support of the legal basis for the demarcation of the Romanian-Moldovan border. That border was the River Prut in Soviet times.
The Moldovan Foreign Ministry summoned Teodorescu for an explanation of his statement and to remind him that the 1969 Vienna Convention and 1978 UN Convention that confirm that there is no time limit on boundaries established by international agreement. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin stated that he would complain to the European Union about the statements. Romania became an EU member this year.
“I expected many of the problems in our relations to disappear after Romania joined the EU,” said Voronin, “but relations between Moldova and Romania have not changed. All those statements are so stupid they don't deserve criticism. Let Europe judge us.” True to his word, Voronin accused Romania of “continual aggression” while he was visiting Brussels last week.
Moldova and Romania have had conflicts before and, since the Party of the Communists came to power in Moldova in 2001, they have been a common occurrence. Chisinau often accuses Bucharest of funding the opposition and the Romanian Orthodox Church of wanting to set up a bishopric in Moldova, where the Russian Orthodox Church predominates. Most of all, Voronin is annoyed by Romanian President Traian Besescu's claim that there is only one people in the two countries – Romanians. But when relations between Moldova and Russia were cool and Moldova was financially straitened, Besescu came to Voronin's aid. Now that Voronin is once again welcome at the Kremlin, he is freer in expressing his true opinion of Romania.
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