Romanians banned access to neighbor Moldova under pretext they lacked papers to prove HIV negative

Five days ago 50 youngsters were forbidden access to Moldova where they planned to join an election meeting of the Liberal Democrat Party there. At the same time two Romanians were kicked out from Moldova accused of semi-hooliganism. The two are set to inform the European Court of Human Rights.

Next week, on April 5, parliamentary elections are to take place in the Republic Moldova, a country made up of Romanian ethnics and Russians, whose relationship with neighbor Romania have been see-sawing. The country is ruled by the communist party, headed by Vladimir Voronin, the state’s president since 2001.

A week ago, Romania’s ambassador to Moldova, Filip Teodorescu, was called to the ministry and asked to transmit a message to Romanian authorities requiring them to prohibit the leave of groups of people to Moldova, before elections. The Moldovan authorities reasoned that thus street protests which could lead to violence will be avoided.

Earlier today, the Romanian foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu announced he asked the Moldovan counterpart to give explanations on the situation of Romanians stopped at the border.

The country, which was part of Romania until the 1940s and now borders the European Union, saw foreign direct investment more than double in 2007, but still has major economic problems to cushion. The country has the lowest gross domestic product per capita in Europe, according to Bloomberg data.