The head of the Romanian diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu has hailed the political agreement reached by his EU counterparts for setting up a sanctions regime in order to counter the destabilization actions against the neighboring ex-soviet Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova.
He said that Romania is already working with the authorities in Chisinau on the first list of people to be sanctioned. Created on a part of the eastern Romanian territories annexed in 1940 by the Stalinist Soviet Union, the little republic, which got its independence in 1991, has been described by pundits as the most vulnerable neighbour of the invaded Ukraine. „The threat level is on the rise. And causing violent events would prove a turning point in the present context”, said this month Ana Revenco, Foreign Minister in the pro-Western government in Chisinau. According to her, ‘it is a certain fact that Russia has stepped up its efforts to destabilize the situation in the Republic of Moldova not without the efforts of the fugitive oligarchs.”
All the elements of a hybrid war such as false bomb alerts, cyber attacks, illegally funded protests, energy blackmail have proved to be a great challenge for the entire Interior Affairs system – she told Radio Chisinau. The pro-war propaganda, the incitement to hatred and misinformation are parts of the same hybrid war and are aimed at weakening the resistance of the citizens.
Against this background, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said that any measure taken to bolster the security of the Republic of Moldova is also beneficial to Romania, and the EU’s decision to quickly put together a sanctions regime will be an instrument very important in the process of strengthening the resilience and security of the neighboring state in the context of the actions masterminded by Moscow.
In turn the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell says that the Republic is one of the most affected states by the war in Ukraine and Brussels has earmarked 40 million Euros to support its defence capabilities.
Also this month the Budget Commission with the European Parliament has endorsed the 145 million euros financial assistance for the Republic of Moldova. The Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan, the head of the delegation of the EU Legislature for the relations with Chisinau has underlined that it is necessary that the macro-financial assistance be endorsed without delay by the European Parliament and the money reach the Republic of Moldova in due time, by the end of the year.
According to him, „the Republic of Moldova is an EU-accession candidate and we must help it overcome all the challenges it is presently facing and carry on its European integration”. The final voting on this package in the European Parliament is most likely due next week.
(Bogdan Matei, Radio Romania International)
