CAHUL, Moldova – Romania’s President Traian Basescu on Thursday urged Moldovans to carry out reforms to join the European Union as hundreds turned out to greet him during his visit to this former Soviet republic.
„I tell you, Moldova’s place is in the EU. You need to take a decisive road to the EU,” he told students at a state university in this southern Moldovan city.
„This means sacrifices – to be accepted by the political class and the population… but these are worth it because the EU means you can aspire to prosperity,” he said. Romania joined the EU in 2007.
Basescu said EU membership will bring foreign investments. Moldova, Europe’s poorest nation, has stayed „in a gray place between the EU and the ex-Soviet state” for too long, he said.
Moldova was part of Romania until 1940 when it was annexed by the Soviet Union, and more than 80 percent of the population is ethnic Romanian. Still, loyalties to the Kremlin remain strong, and the country has mostly been governed since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union by communists loyal to Russia or other governments seeking to keep the country on a middle path between Moscow and Bucharest.
Basescu is the first Romanian president to actively court Moldova and enjoys widespread popularity in the nation of 4.1 million.
Pro-Russian communists were in power for eight years and did not favor EU integration or democratic reform, but a pro-European alliance won elections in July 2009 and has pledged more economic and democratic reform.
Hundreds braved subzero temperatures to greet Basescu who visited a cemetery where more than 150 Romanian soldiers from WWII are buried. They yelled „Basescu, Basescu” and „Unity, Unity.”
Elena Sisianu, a 57-year-old Biology teacher, said „our place is in Europe and Basescu can help us get there.”
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
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Romania’s president urges Moldova to join the EU

CAHUL, Moldova – Romania’s President Traian Basescu on Thursday urged Moldovans to carry out reforms to join the European Union as hundreds turned out to greet him during his visit to this former Soviet republic.
„I tell you, Moldova’s place is in the EU. You need to take a decisive road to the EU,” he told students at a state university in this southern Moldovan city.
„This means sacrifices – to be accepted by the political class and the population… but these are worth it because the EU means you can aspire to prosperity,” he said. Romania joined the EU in 2007.
Basescu said EU membership will bring foreign investments. Moldova, Europe’s poorest nation, has stayed „in a gray place between the EU and the ex-Soviet state” for too long, he said.
Moldova was part of Romania until 1940 when it was annexed by the Soviet Union, and more than 80 percent of the population is ethnic Romanian. Still, loyalties to the Kremlin remain strong, and the country has mostly been governed since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union by communists loyal to Russia or other governments seeking to keep the country on a middle path between Moscow and Bucharest.
Basescu is the first Romanian president to actively court Moldova and enjoys widespread popularity in the nation of 4.1 million.
Pro-Russian communists were in power for eight years and did not favor EU integration or democratic reform, but a pro-European alliance won elections in July 2009 and has pledged more economic and democratic reform.
Hundreds braved subzero temperatures to greet Basescu who visited a cemetery where more than 150 Romanian soldiers from WWII are buried. They yelled „Basescu, Basescu” and „Unity, Unity.”
Elena Sisianu, a 57-year-old Biology teacher, said „our place is in Europe and Basescu can help us get there.”
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
The ‘Obama-Volcker’ Proposal Ben Boosts Stocks The Greece Dilemma End Tariffs on Haitian Exports

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