George Scarlat: Compromises for Bessarabia

June 22, 2009

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Voronin's communists are about to lose power in the early elections. Russia does not seem to be willing to prejudice its prestige by having a party it supports losing the elections. Several Russian analysts and journalists see no chance for the PCRM [Republic of Moldova Communist Party] to win the elections. The United States gave a negative signal to the Moldovan Communists through Hilary Clinton's message, and also through a State Department report that mentions acts of aggression and ill treatment committed by the Chisinau authorities, and the interruption of discussions with the IMF, in spite of Moldova's economic crisis.

As far as the European Union is concerned, no member country seems willing to annoy Romania for Voronin's sake, at least not until all nominations are made in the new European Commission, given the ongoing negotiations for the positions as commissioner, general manager, an! d so on. The decomposition of the PCRM started after its former rising star Marian Lupu left the party yesterday, and when Vladimir Turcanu, the party's former trusted militia man, revealed the communists' setup on 7 April.

Bessarabia's only future is its reunification with Romania, but the Moldovan opposition parties, improperly called pro-Romanian, totally ignore that possibility, and they all talk about "the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova" in their programmes. None of them says a word about the union with Romania. There is only one party that half-heartedly talks about Moldova's "integration into the Euro Atlantic structures," a euphemistic way of referring to NATO accession. The other two opposition parties make no mention of NATO. On the other hand, all opposition parties want a 'reunification' with the Dniester region, although the Republic of Moldova has lost the Dniester region since 1992, and Russia would never give up that territory.! A union of Moldova with the Dniester region in the EU is a utopia. Th e solution to the conflict might be delayed, the same as the case of Cyprus or that of the Middle East.

Dniester supports Bessarabia's union with Romania because it would remove all obstacles in the way of its independence. On the other hand, it would need to offer clear guarantees to the Romanians concerning their rights in the Dniester region. Romania would become the Dniester region's gate to the European Union and its main economic partner.

The endless discussions about the Dniester region are only meant to delay Moldova's union with Romania. Putin's trusted man Stanislav Belkovski proposed the union of Romania with Bessarabia simultaneously with the independence of the Dniester region. The Gagauz refused to join in Voronin's anti-Romanian attacks, through the voice of their leader Mihail Formuzal. They would like to keep the rights they gained, as well as part of the budget. The Gagauz no longer make any separatist threat in case of Republic of Moldova's uni! on with Romania.

Some of the citizens of Russia and Ukraine are entitled to claim Romanian citizenship because they are former citizens of Romania, or descendents of such citizens. The others need to be assured that they will automatically become Romanian citizens after the union. They fear not being in the situation of the Russians who live in the Baltic countries, who are not granted the Latvian or Estonian citizenship because they do not speak the respective languages. The Russians are entitled to guarantees regarding their right to their own church or the status of the Russian language. The opposition parties have ignored them so far, but not all Russians are communists.

Voronin's propaganda frightens them by saying that all Romanians are chauvinists. The communists should be assured that Oleg Voronin and the other 'Red billionaires' will keep their money in case of a union with Romania. The same thing happened with the Romanian communist-capitalists and I see no ! reason why the Bessarabians would have differing treatment. The commun ists will want to go into politics, like everyone else in Romania, and they should be allowed to keep their party, the same as the East German communists did, otherwise they might want to merge with a Romanian party, for instance with the PSD [Social Democratic Party]. They will become local barons, or perhaps even ministers, like the Bessarabians Halippa or Inculet in the interwar period.

Fear of the unknown is a characteristic of human nature. The citizens of Bessarabia, regardless of their nationality or political orientation, need to be told what they can expect in case they become citizens of Romania. Romania, on the other hand, should not trust all Moldovan politicians, because only the ones who sincerely fight for the union are genuine 'pro-Romanians'.

Ziua Daily (Romania), from Romanian (June 11, 2009)