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Bucharest, April 9 /Agerpres/ - Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Cristian Diaconescu on Thursday called on the European and NATO partners to show solidarity in order to counter the slippages from the democratic standards and the international law brought about by the Chisinau authorities, which he said might be sources of instability in the region. [[atop]] 'Romania asked the European and NATO partners for solidarity as regards countering the slippages from the democratic standards and the international law which in our opinion, at this moment create sources of instability in the region where our country also lies', said Diaconescu after a meeting with the ambassadors of the European Union and NATO states accredited in Bucharest. He said Romania, in its capacity of a EU and Alliance member is responsible for and is taking constant action in order to provide a climate of stability at the eastern border of the two organisations, but added the recent events 'clearly show we need the solidarity of all the strategic partners in the EU and NATO'. Diaconescu has also said that the introduction of mandatory visas for the Romanian citizens is a discriminating measure adopted by the authorities in Chisinau, a measure without a legal base and which infringes the agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Commission, according to which visas for European citizens cannot be adopted on the basis of nationality or citizenship. He said the Moldovan authorities' measures targeting the Romanian citizens are 'arbitrary and discriminating'. 'First of all, the establishment without a legal base of the Romanian citizenship as a criteria for the introduction of mandatory visas is a discriminating measure because, according to the agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Commission, the measure can be introduced only for certain categories of visitors and, in any case, not on nationality or citizenship criteria', pointed out Diaconescu. Secondly, Chief of Romanian diplomacy said, provisions of the agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Commission on facilitating visas and the readmission were infringed, which stipulates the need to notify Brussels 48 hours ahead of taking such a measure, namely the introduction of visas. But till now Brussels was not notified. 'We view it as a reckless action reflecting the huge gap between the statements of the authorities in Chisinau and their desire to really act in an European spirit', concluded Chief of Romanian diplomacy, announcing that he already notified the European Commission in connection with these aspects. Diaconescu on Thursday called the EU and NATO ambassadors accredited in Bucharest to brief them on the bilateral relation of Romania with the Republic of Moldova. Tension between the two neighbours got high after protests broke out in Chisinau, where thousands of youths protested against the result of the parliamentary elections held in the Republic of Moldova that showed the communists were the winners. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin accused that certain forces from Romania are behind the trouble in Chisinau. He announced that Romanian ambassador in Chisinau Filip Teodorescu was declared persona non-grata and had 24 hours to leave the Moldovan territory.
[Source:
Romanian National News Agency
AGERPRES
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