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President Vladimir Voronin attended the 10th Meeting of the Presidents of the Central European States in Salzburg, Austria. President Voronin met there with the President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus whose support he requested in Moldova’s efforts to bring the Moldovan legislation in line with the EU standards. The two Presidents stressed the need to finalise the bilateral legal basis, including the 9 draft agreements currently under negotiation, as well as another 4 agreements whose drafts have already been prepared for signature. President Voronin also met Borislav Paravac, the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with whom he discussed the need to intensify bilateral relations and consolidate them within the Stability Pact. Given that Bosnia and Herzegovina is now holding the chairmanship of the Co-operation Process in the South Eastern Europe, President Voronin asked this country to support Moldova’s joining of this regional arrangement. President Voronin also met Alfred Moisiu, the President of the Republic of Albania, and the two agreed to extend the existing legal basis for co-operation, which at present consists of two bilateral agreements.

On this occasion, of the first sitting in Chisinau of the Permanent Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), President Voronin met Piter Shieder, Chairman of PACE. During the meeting the European official put forward a number of objections with regard to the freedom of press in the Republic of Moldova, as well as with regard to a number of irregularities committed during the electoral campaign this May. In reply, Voronin said that while more than 40 newspapers are being published in Moldova at present, “of which more than a half are published in an unhindered way by various parties and socio-political movements and only one by the ruling party”, there can be no talk of restricting the freedom of expression. Otherwise, this has been also stated by Victor Stepaniuc, the leader of the parliamentary faction of communists, who said, “the opposition has at least 24 newspapers and 170 radio and TV stations, all of which are anti-governmental”. Having heard this statement, some representatives of the opposition ironically asked themselves if the leader of the communist faction also referred to “Animal Planet” or “Fox kids”.

As for the alleged prosecution of some electoral contestants, the head of state said that the files of some representatives of the political opposition “were opened long before the electoral campaign began, and the exercise of justice could not have been suspended during elections”.

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