National School for Political and Administrative Studies

The Diplomatic Conflict between the

Republic of Moldova and Romania,

January 2007- February 2008

Professor: Iulian Chifu

Student: Tatiana Drăguţan

Master Program: International Relations:

Foreign Policy of Romania,

1st year

Bucharest

-February, 2008-

Content:

I. Selecting the case and establishing the relevant temporal framework

II. Describing the historical and political background

III. Main issues of the conflict and their detailed presentation

a. The Framework Agreement or Basic Treaty

b. The Border Treaty

c. Harsh statements of the Moldovan president. Declarations of unification of

his Romanian counterpart

d. Moldovan identity

e. Citizenship issue

f. Romanian visas and the issue of additional consulates in the Republic of

Moldova

g. Religious issues: The Conflict between the two Metropolitan Churches

h. Expulsion of the Romanian diplomats, visits of the high ranking officials,

problems at the borders

i. Financing of Moldovan media or parties by Romanian authorities

I. Selecting the case and establishing the relevant temporal framework

The case I chose for analysis is the diplomatic conflict between Republic of Moldova

(RM) and Romania starting with January 1st, 2007, till, February 10, 2008. The reason

why I consider January 1st the starting point of this conflict is because on that date Romania

became a member of the European Union and, as a consequence, there entered into force the

Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the Republic of

Moldova concerning the reciprocal traveling of the citizens signed in Bucharest in the autumn

of 2006, that is regulating the traveling regime between the two countries, introducing a new

visa regime for the citizens of Moldova. I considered February 10, 2007 as the end of the

period I chose to analyze because it is the last time when two representatives of the sides

involved in the conflict, Romanian minister of foreign affairs A.Cioroianu and Moldovan

president, V.Voronin argued again on the issue of the name of the official language of RM on

the occasion of a conference on security issues held in Munchen on February 10.

I consider that the crisis breaks out on February 7, 2007, when the minister of foreign

affairs and European Integration of RM A.Stratan declared that Moldova does not need two

more Romanian consulates (the ones in Cahul and Balți). In fact the conflict goes back to

autumn of 2007 when Romania asked Moldova to open those two more consulates and

received no answer, when the two countries signed the agreement concerning the visa regime

and, in the same time, there was raised again the issue of the two basic treaties that are not

signed between Moldova and Romania, what makes possible, from the point of view of

Moldovan authorities, the jeopardizing of the Moldovan sovereignty and independence.

It is not a conflict having all the stages, as it was not solved yet. We could consider that

we reached the top point of the conflict. It is also to be mentioned that it has not implied

physical violence until the moment. The single form of violence to be considered is the verbal

one represented by harsh statements of the high ranking officials representing the two states.

I would not refer in this paper on the role of Russia as a third actor in the triangle

Romania-Moldova-Russia, even it has a big influence on the attitude of the Moldova

authorities, by the role it plays in the Transnistrian issue, as well as by the fact that Russia is

the main provided of energy resources to Moldova and the role the Russian market plays for

the Moldovan products. I am rather interested to focus strictly on the confliction issues

occurring between Romania and Moldova.

II. Describing the historical and political background

After his election at the end of 2004, Romanian President T.Basescu paid his first official

visit to the Moldovan president V.Voronin, starting a period of friendlier relations between the

two states. The relationship was further cemented when Moldova signed the EU/Moldova

Action Plan, making EU accession a primary goal of its foreign policy. However, relations

during February, 2007 and February, 2008 have been anything but smooth. Rows over ethnic

identity, nationality, dual citizenship and visas have abruptly reversed former gains, with harsh

words coming from Chisinau.

The situation of the relations between the Republic of Moldova and Romania during that

period was considered by some analysts as the most tensioned after Moldova got its

independence on August 27, 1991. It happens that the conflict lasted that time longer then the

one from June 2001 until March 2002.

As related to the historical background it is to be mentioned that Republic of Moldova

was created as an independent state based on the territories of the RSSM (Moldovan Soviet

Socialist Republic), made as a consequence of the annexation of Basarabia to the Soviet Union

based on the Secret Protocol of the Non-aggression Treaty signed between Germany and Soviet

Union (USSR) on August 23, 1939, known as Ribentrop-Moltov Pact. RSSM was created on

August 2, 1940 as part of USSR, formed of territories taken from Romania. Hotin, Cetatea

Alba, Ismail, Northern Bucovina were annexed to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The

border between USSR and Romania was fixed by the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947. Romania,

considered as defeated side in the II World War, accepts to sign this Treaty, by this way losing

some of its territories and receiving back Transilvania that it lost based on Viena Dictate of

August 1940.

The two sides, i.e. present Republic of Moldova and Romania, relate differently to the

Paris Treaty. On one hand, Romania does not recognizes the way the border with USSR was

established in 1947, considering that the validity of the Ribentrop-Molotov Pact expired on

June 22, 1941, when the Nazi Germany invaded USSR1 and that the Moldovan-Romanian

border is established based on the Treaty signed between Romania and URSS, on February 27,

1961. On the other hand, present Moldovan authorities recognize the border established by the

Paris Treaty of 1947 and want that to be included in the Border Treaty that has not been yet

signed between the two countries. After the proclamation of Moldova’s sovereignty on June

1Gabriel ANDREESCU, Valentin STAN and Renate WEBER, Romania’s Relations with the Republic of Moldova,

http://studint.ong.ro/moldova.htm, 30.10.1994

23, 1990, change of its official name on August 23, 1991 and declaration of its independence

on August 27, 1991, there was a short period when the idea of the unification of Romania and

the Republic of Moldova was quite strong. Even so, the authorities in Chisinau remained

reserved to the idea of unification to Romania. Instead, Moldova became in 1994 a member of

the Community of Independent States, the Transnistrian conflict arose and the idea of

unification was totally abandoned.

It is to be noticed that there is a different approach of the Ribentrop-Molotov Pact and the

issue of the borders established after the Second World War if we do compare Moldova and the

Baltic states, in terms that the last ones considered the consequences of that Pact as a

“occupation by the USSR” of their territories and when becoming independent again in 1991,

they reestablished their territories as before 1940. Romanian Parliament also adopted in June

1991 a declaration by which one the Ribentrop-Moldotov Pact was considered null.

In case of Moldova it happened that there appeared a new state after the fall of USSR.

After Moldova got its independence, the relations between the two states passed trough

different periods, of getting closer or more tensioned, as for example the diplomatic crisis of

June 2001- March 2002, also depending on the influence of Russia and European Union.

III. Main issued of the conflict and their detailed presentation

a. The Framework Agreement

There has not been signed a Framework Agreement between the two states that would

regulate the bilateral relations. The discussions related to the preparation and signing of the

Basic Treaty and the Border Treaty are connected and last for a very long period, the two sides

not being able to come until now to an agreement as related to certain formulas contained in the

Treaties. Moldova would like to conclude a “Partnership and Cooperation Treaty” as the one

signed between Romania and Ukraine, and that would serve as a guarantee for the

independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. In the same time Romania would like to

sign a “Framework Agreement concerning the Strategic Partnership for Europe” which could

promote bilateral cooperation and assist Moldova on European integration matters. Romania

would like to have in the agreement references related to historical, linguistic and cultural ties,

while Moldovan authorities do not agree with that.

Discussions on the issue of the basic treaty last from 1991-1992, when Romania for the

sake of peaceful relations presented a “Fraternity and Integration Treaty”2, while the Moldovan

side wanted a “fraternity and cooperation treaty” and not an integration one. The text of the

treaty was supposed to be signed in 2000, after in 1999 both sides accepted a compromise:

Moldovan – accepted the idea of “common culture, civilization and language”, and Romanian

side accepted the idea of “inviolability of borders between the two states”3.

The latest news concerning the negotiations over the Border Treaty is the fact that the

deputy minister of foreign affairs and European integration of Moldova, Valeriu Ostalep,

visited

b. The Border Treaty

As we previously mentioned, Romania and Moldova do not have a Border Treaty.

Romanian authorities consider that the borders between the two states have been established

after the II World War, while Moldovan ones sustain that not signing the two documents basic

and Border Treaties) means that Romania would jeopardize its sovereignty. Presidents

T.Basescu and V.Voronin talked again concerning the two Treaties in January 2007, but since

then nothing happened related to that issue. The last round of negotiations was held in the

September 2007, afterwards the situation getting more and more tensioned.

The two sides still could not receive an agreement as related to the title of the treaty and a

reference to the 1947 Paris Treaty. Romania considers that the border with USSR was

established through the Treaty signed by Romania and USSR agreement of February 27, 1961

and that there is no need to sign a new border treaty.

c. Harsh statements of the Moldovan and Romanian presidents

In February 2007, Moscow reacted to a decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal

concerning the conviction of Romanian marshal I.Antonescu. That above-mentioned decision

of the Bucharest Court served as a good reason for the Moldovan authorities to state that the

sovereignty of the state was in danger, and that Romania leads a duplicitous behavior

jeopardizing Moldova’s national security.

In the spring of 2007, V.Voronin accused Romania of implanting and funding a small

but noisy group to promote unification between Moldova and Romania, violating Moldova's

sovereignty. M. Lupu, the speaker of the Moldovan Parliament stated in April that the relations

between the Republic of Moldova and Romania will be either constructive or destructive. They

2 Odette Tomescu-Hatto, Noile frontiere ale Uniunii Europene şi relaţiile româno-moldoveneşti, în Monica Heintz,

Stat slab, cetăţenie incertă, studii despre Republica Moldova, Curtea Veche, Bucureşti, 2007, p.259 3 Ibidem, p.259

will be destructive in case there will be continued the discussions on language, history and

nation.

In the same time, Romanian president T.Basescu made during 2006 and 2007 several

declarations as related to the unification and as a consequence, there appeared reaction of the

president of Moldova V.Voronin.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there circulated the idea of unifying the two

states, being revived by T.Basescu in 2006, during a conference at a University of Bucharest,

when he stated that Moldova and Romania could unify by joining together to the EU. After

becoming a president in December 2004, T.Basescu made of the Republic of Moldova support

to adhere to the EU a priority of the Romanian foreign policy. One interpretation of the

Moldova’s reactions could be that Chisinau fears Romania’s ambitions to reestablish “the

Greatest Romania”, and by that means to extinguish Moldova’s statehood.

In conclusion, there were a lot of harsh statements, more frequently accusations from

Moldovan part that brought to the freezing of bilateral relations between the two states.

d. Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Identity

According to the doctrine of Moldavianism, founded in 1924 and reshaped in 1964,

presently used by the ruling Communist Party, Moldovans are a different nationality from

Romanians. Some of the „teoreticians“ of Moldavianism of the Moldovan Comunist Party are:

V.Stepaniuc, politician and historian, the former head of the parliamentary commission for

culture, science, education, youth, sports and media, who was appointed in January 2007 as the

Vice Prime Minister, V.Stati, politician and linguist, the author of teh Moldovan-Romanian

dictionary.

According to the results of the lates census, only 2% of the citizens of Moldova

declared themselves Romanians. In order to enforce this idea, on February 24th

, Moldovan

president receives in Chisinau a delegation of the newly formed “Community of Moldovans

from Romania”, stating that he was considering offering Moldovan citizenship to some 10

million 'ethnic Moldovans' in Romania. He complained later that Romania discriminated

against Moldovans by not counting them as a minority group. But it is very important to

mention that Romania has never considered having “Moldovan minority”, has never discussed

such an issue. In addition, the above mentioned Community of Moldovans from Romania was

dissolved as it could not be registered as a juridical person due to the fact that the notion of

Moldovan minority is not mentioned in the Romanian legislation.

Romania scientifically considers that the language spoken in Moldova is Romanian and

that there is no Moldovan language, but that Moldovan is just a dialect of the Romanian.

There occured an „identity crisis“ given the fact that Moldova used to oscilate between

the unification with Romania and returning under Russian protection4. As related to the

Moldovan side, M.Snegur was one who introduced the idea of „two different people living in

two different states“ in 1994, while afterwards the Romanian president I.Iliescu used to make

use of the phrase „two Romanian states“, considering RM an artifical state.5 As such, it

happens that the identity crises occures exactly due to the fact that there cannot be made a clear

distinction between Romanians and Moldovans as these are the same. In this context,

Moldovan officials, especially the Communist Party in rule, starts building the Moldovan

identity.6

e. Citizenship issue

In the period between 1991 and 2001 94.916 Moldovan citizens succeeded to receive the

Romanian citizenship based on a Law that allows those who lost their Romanian citizenship or

their followers up to the second generation to ask for it. Starting with 2002 the citizenship

granting process was blocked, the legislation was changed, and the above responsibility was

passed from the Ministry of Interior to a special Citizenship Commission subordinated to the

Ministry of Justice. During 2003 there were granted only 6 citizenships, in 2004 – 257, in 2005

– 1317.7 During 2006 there were granted 490 citizenships and during 2007 – 670

8. In 2007 at

the Citizenship Commission there were 25345 requests for Romanian citizenship received from

citizens of the Republic of Moldova.9 Instead, the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau has

approximately 200.000 envelopes containing the expression of intent to regain Romanian

citizenship. Romanian consulates, also in charge with receiving requests for citizenship, should

invite for an interview, accept the documents and send them to the Citizenship Commission.

Given the bureaucratic procedure, it might be considered that the process is almost frozen at

the Consulate. For example, there was received no invitation for depositing the official request

and accompanying documents for the citizenship for a request sent in August 2003.

In order to simplify the procedure, Romanian authorities adopted a Governmental

ordinance on September 5th

by which one introduced slight changes to the procedure.

4 Ibidem, p.257

5 Ibidem, p. 260

6 Iulian Chifu, 2004, Republica Moldova, Alunecarea anti-democratic a governării gălăgioase. Centrul pentru

prevenirea conflictelor, Iaşi, în Odette Tomescu-Hatto, Noile frontiere ale Uniunii Europene şi relaţiile româno-

moldoveneşti, în Monica HEINTZ, Stat slab, cetăţenie incertă, studii despre Republica Moldova, Curtea Veche,

Bucureşti, 2007, p.261 7 Odette Tomescu-Hatto, Idem, p.266

8 The last two data are not official ones and also include the number of citizenships given to Romanians from

Ukraine, http://cetatenie.info.tm/index.php?page=3 9 Odette Tomescu-Hatto, Idem, p.266

Moldovan president reputedly accused Romania of intending to empty Moldova of its citizen

by facilitating the procedure of granting the Romanian citizenship.

f. Romanian visas and the issue of additional consulates in the Republic of

Moldova

After Romania entered the EU, Moldovan citizens have to obtain a visa in order to enter

Romania. A bilateral Agreement regulating the visa regime was signed by the ministers of

foreign affairs of the two countries in October 2006 in Chisinau. After the visa regime was

introduced for the citizens of the Moldova, serious technical problems came out. That

happened first of all because the Romanian consulate in Chisinau could not manage with the

high number of visa requests it received. Except for the online application form a Moldovan

national willing to get a Romanian visa had to submit on the website of the Embassy of

Romania in Moldova, that was almost blocked at the very beginning due to the high number of

requests, there were huge queues of people waiting to apply for a visa. Even if the visa is given

for free, all this procedures and problems made the number of Moldovans traveling to Romania

for the purpose of studies, business, or to get a visa from the Embassies of some EU member

states having embassies in Bucharest, etc. reduce with more than 50%. A large number of

Moldovan nationals go to the Consulates of Romania to Ukraine (Odesa or Cernauti) in order

to apply for a Romanian visa.

A new consular section of the Embassy of Romania in Chisinau was opened only on

December 21, 2007. Its work capacity is of 900-1000 visa requests per day.

After V.Voronin and T.Basescu agreed in January 2007 on opening an additional building

of the Romanian Consulate in Chisinau, Moldovan foreign minister A.Stratan stated on March

7, 2007 that the Romanian plans to open two consulates in Balti and Cahul to deal with a high

demand for visas were no longer necessary, the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and

European Integration issuing an official note to the Romanian embassy rejecting the new

consulates, and reversing a previous note in the support of the decision. Afterwards, the issue

of the two consulates was no longer officially discussed by the two parts.

Finally, a new consular section of the Embassy of Romania in Chisinau was opened only

on December 21, 2007. Its work capacity is of 900-1000 visa requests per day. No Moldovan

authorities took part at the official opening.

During the time for the facilitation of the visa granting process in Chisinau there was

opened a Common Visa Centre for the issuing of visas to Moldovans for several EU countries,

what decreased to some degree the tension related to the Romania visas issue.

g. Religious issues: The Conflict between the two Metropolitan Churches

In Moldova there are two Metropolitan Churches: Moldovan Orthodox Church

subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate supported by the Moldovan Government and

Bessarabian Metropolitan Church subordinated to the Bucharest Patriarchate (has 23 % of the

Christian believers of the Republic of Moldova)10

. The second church was reactivated in 1992

but was officially registered only in 2002, after a process at the European Court of Human

Rights against the Moldovan State. There occurred a conflict between the two churches after

the Romanian Patriarchate decided to revive three more eparchies in R.Moldova (Episcopia de

Balti, Episcopia Basarabiei de Sud si Episcopia Ortodoxa a Dubasarilor si a toata Transnistria).

The reaction of the Moldovan Mitropolitan Church and of the Russian Patriarchy was a

negative one, given the fact that it involves disputes over properties, over churches11

. Several

employees of the Bassarabian Metropolitan Church, having Romanian citizenship, were

expulsed from Moldova for not having the necessary documents for their stay, several other

were not allowed to enter Moldova. Now, the popes serving in the churches of the Bessarabian

Metropolitan Churce or those who joined it were promised Romanian citizenship, according to

non-official sources. In the opinion of Dan Chiachir, the reactivation of the three eparchies

seems to be “an overbidding in a political sense”12

.

h. Expulsion of the Romanian diplomats, visits of the high ranking officials,

problems at the borders

After several compromising articles published in the Moldovan newspaper “Moldova

Suverana” (Sovereign Moldova) by a former collaborator of the Romanian External

Intelligence Service, M.Contiu, in November 2007, entitled “Romanian Espionage and

Counterespionage in the Republic of Moldova"13

, in December two diplomats of the Romanian

consulate in Chisinau were declared persona non-grata, the stated reason being the fact that

“their activity is not in accordance with their status of diplomats”. Contrary to habitual

practices, Romania has not expelled Moldovan diplomats.

10

According to an INFOTAG opinion poll of 2000, there are 723 000 believers of the Bessarabian

Metropolitan Church, http://www.ziua.ro/news.php?data=2008-01-31&id=3053 11

Biserica Ortodoxa Romana, atacata de bisericile "surori", http://www.ziua.ro/news.php?data=2008-01-

31&id=3053 12

Ibidem 13

Mihai Contiu, Spionaj si sontraspionaj romanesc in Republica Moldova, http://www.moldova-

suverana.md/index.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1195131644&archive=1195472872&start_from=&uc

at=7&

In October, several Romanian delegations were prevented from crossing the border when

going to Chisinau at the invitation of the Chisinau Mayor, D.Chirtoaca, known as a pro-

Romanian opposition representative. As a consequence, Moldovan Ambassador to Bucharest,

L.Gutu, was called for explanations at the Romanian MFA.

On December 21st, 2007, on the occasion of the opening of the new building of the

Romanian Consulate in Chisinau, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, A.Cioroianu took part

at the event, but had no any kind of meeting with his Moldovan officials. Romanian part had

not required on this occasion any visit with the Moldovan representatives. Moldovan side

qualified that as an “unfriendly gesture”14

, not in accordance with the cooperation spirit of the

relations between the two states.

We should pay attention to the fact that the last time Moldovan president and Prime-

minister officially visited Moldova only in 2005. The Romanian officials visited Moldova last

time in January 2007 (president) and in June (prime-minister). After that, even it passed more

then 7 months, there was not any kind of bilateral visits of any minister.

i. Financing of Moldovan NGOs, media and parties by Romanian authorities

Romania is accused by Moldovan leaders of financing some media, as for example of

newspapers (Timpul, Literatura si Arta, Jurnal de Chisinau), as well as PRO TV channel.

Bucharest is also offering 800.000 Euro for the social development of RM for the 2008-

2008 period.15

According to the statement of the Romanian foreign minister A.Cioroianu the

0,17 per cent of the GDP Romania has to offer as official Development Assistance each year

to teh neigbouring countries striving to enter the EU, the majority will be directed to the

Republic of Moldova. The Communist Party reacted by charging the Intelligence Service to

examine teh financing sources of the oposition parties and media.

IV. Political administrative description of the escalation process: how was the

problem discovered; how it was managed by the executive authorities; the main decision

makers involved in provoking and managing the conflict; the problems they confronted

with

The different contradictory issues existed between the two states right away after 1991. The

tension increased during the second mandate of the president I.Iliescu, after the Communist

party won the Parliamentary elections in Moldova. In 2005-2006 situation seemed to turn into a

14

http://www.mfa.md/noutati/1053/ 15

http://www.romanialibera.ro/a117543/voronin-ia-la-puricat-finantarile-romanesti-pentru-moldova.html

favorable one. But starting with the discussions and signing of the visa agreement and reviving

the issue of the two treaties, the introduction of the visa regime for citizens of Moldova, it got

worse.

It was not managed yet by none of the authorities, neither by the Romanian ones, not by

the Moldovan ones. The Romanian authorities in charge with foreign policy in Romania are:

the president, who draws the general framework for the country’s foreign policy, the

Parliament, with its foreign policy commissions and possibility to ratify all international

treaties and agreements, and the Government headed by the Prime Minister, including the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department for the Relations with Romanians Abroad16

of the

MFA.

The Moldovan institutions implied in decision taking process concerning the relation with

Romania are: President and the Government, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

and European Integration. There is also the Parliament in charge with the ratification of the

international treaties and agreements. I would like to mention that from the Moldovan side the

most important defendant of the hostile politics towards Romania, the public sustainer on the

international arena of the doctrine of Moldovenism is the president V.Voronin. The rest are

somehow subordinated to this “official position” of the Communist Party. The decision for

solving the conflict were not taken yet, or at least they have not given any positive results.

V. Discussing the importance/relevance of the conflict: which are the main

problems raised in that case, which are the possible positive and negative

lessons to be drawn out from such an experience.

The conflict is relevant to be analyzed in order to find which would be the solutions for

it and for the post-conflict period. During this conflict the used communication means of the

Moldovan authorities were the same ones as during the conflict between June 2001 and March

2002 the, i.e. by avoiding the diplomatic channels and by making public the concerns and

opinions “through tough statements in the media”.17

16

http://www.mae.ro/poze_editare/2007.06.12_Orgranigrama..pdf, and Iulian Chifu, The Ingredients of a

Diplomatic Conflict at the Border Between Romania and the Republic of Moldova in Julian Chifu and Britta

Ramberg , Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: The Romanian Experience, Swedish National Defence

College and CRISMART, 2007, Iulian Chifu, http://www.crismart.org/upload/PDF%20volumes/Volume%2033.pdf 17

Iulian Chifu, 2007, p.292

If analyzing this conflict according to the hourglass model18

, I would consider that it

contains only the first 4 stages: difference, contradiction, polarization, violence.

But the type of violence it got to is not a typical physical of military one, but rather a

verbal violence of the leaders of the two countries.

Which are the possible positive and negative lessons to be drawn out from such an

experience.

What happens as a consequence of such a conflict:

- the juridical framework between the two states remains only partially established;

- there are permanent suspicions and accusations done by Moldovan representatives;

- people encounter serious problems with getting a visa for Romania, as for example, 1,5

months for a student visa; being sometimes even impossible to deposit a request for a

visa;

- there increases the probability of corruption cases, many citizens being forced by the

situation to apply for a tourist visa through a tourist agency, in order to get a short stay

visa for Romania where could apply for the visa for another country having an embassy

in Bucharest, as in the case of the Italy;

- the number of people crossing the border decreased with more then 50%;

- agreements that would facilitate the cultural, economic, and other kind of exchanges are

no longer focused on, as for example a protocol concerning the Moldovan students that

come for studies to Romania remained not signed for several years;

- instead of improving the relations, establishing a better framework for the economical

exchanges, politicians focus on the conflicts;

- international community is involved, both parts or only one may loose its credibility in

front of the international institutions or states, at least as regarding some certain issues.

Possible solutions: Given that fact that this conflict is not at all a finished one, there might

be proposed several solutions:

- to find a compromise related to the basic treaty and the border treaty the two countries

are discussing for such a long period;

- to come to a common agreement as related to the two metropolitan churches of

Moldova and of Bessarabia;

18

Oliver Ramsbotham, Tom Woodhouse and Hugh Miall, Contemporary Conflict Resolution, Polity Press,

Cambridge, 2007

- to come to a compromise as related to the linguistic, historic and cultural identity, what

I consider really difficult to be realized under the rule of the present communist party;

- to find solutions and to be opened for the facilitation of the visa regime, by opening

some more consulates on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, as it was scheduled

from the very beginning or by considerably increasing the number and efficiency of the

personnel;

- to issue visas for 3 months instead of the visas for three days for those who go to

Romania in order to apply for the visa for another country;

- to regulate the procedure of granting Romanian citizenship; in case there are harsh

reactions from Chisinau, to make a distinction between those who ask for the Romanian

citizenship with the residence abroad, and those who establish their residence in

Romania, given the fact that at the present moment human rights to citizenship are

violated the procedure term for granting Romanian citizenship lasting even up to 6-8

years.

Bibliography:

Books and scientific articles:

ANDREESCU, Gabriel, Valentin STAN and Renate WEBER, Romania’s Relations with the

Republic of Moldova, http://studint.ong.ro/moldova.htm, 30.10.1994

APAHIDEANU, Ionut, Buletin Special Strategikon: Relatia Romania-Moldova de la

mahmureala la galceava, Mon, 12 Mar 2007

CANŢÎR, Alexandru, Preşedintele Parlamentului vrea un tratat de frontieră cu România,

26.01.2007,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/romanian/news/story/2006/03/060329_moldova_romania_tratat.shtml;

CHIFU, Iulian , 2004, Republica Moldova, Alunecarea anti-democratic a governării

gălăgioase. Centrul pentru prevenirea conflictelor, Iaşi, în Odette Tomescu-Hatto, Noile

frontiere ale Uniunii Europene şi relaţiile româno-moldoveneşti, în Monica HEINTZ, Stat slab,

cetăţenie incertă, studii despre Republica Moldova, Curtea Veche, Bucureşti, 2007, p.261

CHIFU, Iulian, The Ingredients of a Diplomatic Conflict at the Border Between Romania and

the Republic of Moldova in Julian Chifu and Britta Ramberg , Crisis Management in

Transitional Societies: The Romanian Experience, Swedish National Defence College and

CRISMART, 2007, Iulian Chifu,

http://www.crismart.org/upload/PDF%20volumes/Volume%2033.pdf

CONTIU, Mihai, Spionaj si sontraspionaj romanesc in Republica Moldova,

http://www.moldova-

suverana.md/index.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1195131644&archive=1195472872&sta

rt_from=&ucat=7&

DURA, George, Integrarea Europeana.: Statutul de Membru al UE ii Ofera Romaniei Noi

Oportunitati in Relatiile cu Moldova, 02.02.2007, http://www.azi.md/news?ID=43019;

LUPU, Victor, The Relationship with Republic of Moldova, an Open Wound, Nine o'clock,

March 12, 2007;

POPESCU, Nicu, România - R. Moldova: viitorul unei 'relaţii privilegiate',

http://www.contrafort.md/2001/75-76/120.html;

SIMONCA, Ovidiu, Roumanie - Moldavie : des relations compliquées par l’histoire, Observator

cultural, 3 avril 2007, http://balkans.courriers.info/article8077.html

SOCOR, Vladimir, Moldova refuses mass conferrals of Romanian Citizenship, The Moldova

Foundation's Weekly News Bulletin on Moldova

Friday, March 16, 2007 -- Vol. 3, Issue 54;

TOMESCU-HATTO, Odette, Noile frontiere ale Uniunii Europene şi relaţiile româno-

moldoveneşti, în Monica HEINTZ, Stat slab, cetăţenie incertă, studii despre Republica

Moldova, Curtea Veche, Bucureşti, 2007, p.259

Agreements:

Acord între Guvernul României şi Guvernul Republicii Moldova privind călătoriile reciproce

ale cetăţenilor, semnat în 2007

Web pages:

http://www.mfa.md/

http://www.bbc.co.uk

http://www.ziua.ro

http://www.conflict.md/

http://politicom.moldova.org

http://www.flux.md

ttp://www.parties.e-democracy.md

http://www.azi.md

http://www.thediplomat.ro/

http://www.romanialibera.ro/