Chisinau - Romanian President Traian Basescu has said he wants to receive Moldovan citizenship and looks forward to seeing the two countries unify.
“After the parliamentary elections in Moldova, I will pay a farewell visit to the Republic of Moldova. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I will submit an application for Moldovan citizenship. I discussed this issue with President of Moldova Nicolae Timofti a few days ago. I want this very much. It will be a great honor for me, a symbolic gesture, if the authorities of the Republic of Moldova grant their citizenship to me. My request should be approved by the authorities,” Basescu told the Moldova-1 television station on Oct. 30 evening.
The president said he very much wants Romania and Moldova to unify, but this could happen only with the consent of “the Romanians of these two countries.”
“My heartfelt wish is for Romania and the Republic of Moldova to unify because I still subscribe to the idea that we are one nation living in two independent states. When the majority of Romanians in both countries start to want to become one country, this will certainly happen because no one is allowed to strip a nation of its right to unify. However, obviously, all necessary conditions for this have not yet been put in our territory, especially in Moldova,” Basescu said.
Speaking at a September congress of the Social Democratic Party of Romania, the country’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta said he had been dreaming about the second “great unification of the Romanian lands”, which, he believes, could happen in 2018, when Romania will celebrate 100 years since the creation of the “great union”.
“The Romanians’ duty is to take advantage of such a chance in order to be able to once again speak about the Great Unification in Europe with our brothers from the left bank of the Dniestr River,” Ponta said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, expressed concern over Ponta’s remarks and asked the Moldovan authorities to “give an appropriate assessment of them.”
However, Moscow’s concerns were left unanswered, and Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca then went to Bucharest to attend a ceremony that official launched Ponta’s election campaign in the run-up to the presidential polls in Romania.
Basescu’s term in office as president of Romania expires at the end of 2014.
Prime Minister Ponta looks set to win the November 2 first round of Romania’s presidential elections.
