You're reading: Romanian president opposes unification with Moldova

Chisinau - Romania and Moldova should not become a single state, Romanian President Traian Basescu told the Voice of Russia radio.

“Romania and Moldova are two independent states. Moldova may become a EU member and then our borders will become history, because EU citizens freely move from one country to another,” he said.

Romania wants to assist the Moldovan accession to the EU if Chisinau wants that, he said. “We cannot force it to take the move,” he observed.

Asked to comment on his earlier statement that “he would have also ordered the Romanian forces in 1941 to cross the River Prut together with German forces [on June 22, 1941, when Romania waged a war on the former Soviet Union on the side of Nazi Germany],” Basescu said, “This is the year 2012, not 1941. That is impossible.”

“History will be the judge, but each of us has our own opinion. I think Marshal [Ion] Antonescu [the head of Romania in 1940-1944] made a mistake when he did not stop by the Dniester River, but moved farther. That was the biggest mistake Romania in the WW2, but you must understand that Romania was trying to protect its territorial integrity,” he said.

He also said that Romania naturalized citizens of Romanian origin from Moldova and Ukraine because they were deprived of citizenship, not for political reasons.