OSCE Parliamentary Assembly // Romania urges international community to back Moldova

Chisinau, 30 June /MOLDPRES/ - Romania urges the international community to provide Moldova with support, in the context of the war waged by Russia in Ukraine. Romanian Senate President Nicolae Ionel Ciuca launched the urge at the annual session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA), held in Bucharest on these days. The Romanian official referred also to the need to back Ukraine, not only to defend itself, but also to liberate its territories from the Russian occupation. Nicolae Ciuca informed that the Romanian authorities had not allowed the participation of the delegations of Russia and Belarus.       

„In the context of the conflict in Ukraine, I want to underline once again the importance of strengthening the international support for Moldova,’’ Nicolae Ciuca said.    

In his speech given at the opening of the meeting, Nicolae Ciuca said that it was an honour for him to host the 31st Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and offered thanks to those who had made possible the organization of this prestigious event in Bucharest.  

„On these days, Romania’s capital becomes the centre of the discussions about Europe’s security and the most acute solutions to the problem we are facing. We are at a time distance of two years and a half after Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. Just several hundreds of kilometers far from the place where we are, Romanians hear the sound of the conflict from beyond the borders. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine made the war return to the old continent. This is reality which we should regard with realism and resoluteness, with a long-term thinking and commensurate actions. The Romanian authorities ruled not to allow the participation of the delegations of Russia and Belarus at this Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Our mission is the security and cooperation. The one who actively and deliberately undermines the security in Europe cannot have pretension to participate in this Assembly.  We cannot accept somebody to take an unfair advantage of the principles and rules of this Organization, while it glaringly infringes them,’’ Nicolae Ciuca.        

Referring to the premises which should be taken into account in tackling the central subject of the session, OSCE’s role in the present security architecture: a parliamentary perspective, Ciuca said that the first one would be the speeding up of the actions.  

„The first is the one of the urgency of our action. We are in a critical year both for the fate of the war in Ukraine and for the future of the democracy and the international order based on rules. Our action or inaction will weigh significantly for the future of the region. Any hesitation can mean the prolongation of the war in Ukraine, the deepening of the threat in the Black Sea region, with serious security, economic and social consequences for the entire continent. Therefore, we must help Ukraine now, with everything we can, not only to defend itself, but also to win the war and liberate its territory,’’ Ciuca also said.  

„The second premise deals with the relevance of the multilateral formats and of the dialogue for the settlement of the conflicts and adaptation to the present context. The parliaments are the representative organizations of the democracies. Our action at the parliamentary level must meet the imperative of the moment. The third premise is the fact that we are at the intersection of a multitude of crises and threats, which mutually intensify, on all the three dimensions of OSCE’s action: political and military, economic and environmental, respectively, human. The war is waged not only on the battlefield, but also on the ground of misinformation, manipulation and propaganda, which fuel the discourse of hatred, the extremism and radicalism,’’ Nicolae Ciuca added.     

At the same time, the Romanian Senate’s president stressed that the great battle of the 2024 year was given between democracy authoritarianism, between the defence of the international order based on rules and the ones who want to destroy it, between a lifestyle which puts in its focus the freedom, the rights of the individual, the tolerance and those who want to suppress them. Ciuca specified that ‘’our battle does not stop at the 2024 year.’’    

„Personally, I have repeatedly spoken about the need of a long-term vision, about a ‘’decade of security,’’ which is to include coherent answers to all crises of the present and future: from the one of security to the danger of the extremism and to the impact of conflicts on the economies, the environment and the people; from the demographic decline to the challenges triggered by the migration.  The uncertainties coming from the development of the new technologies, especially of the artificial intelligence, are added to them. Through its representativeness, this is the most entitled forum to provide such a vision. At present, more than ever, OSCE plays a key role for the consolidation of the security and cooperation in Europe through its comprehensive approach. Romania has been and stays a decisive and active partner for the full implementation of the principles and commitments assumed. Romania was set to be a model as regards the protection and promotion of the rights of the people who belong to national minorities. Our systemic, long-term actions regarded, on the one hand, the encouraging of the political and civic participation and the social inclusion. On the other hand, it was concretized in complex strategies, in order to combat any form of discrimination and to protect the fundamental human rights ’’ the president of the Romanian Senate said.        

Nicolae Ionel Ciuca met participants in the OSCE PA in the Gardens of the Senate – ‘’a place with a painful history.’’ ‘’Here, the Communist regime destroyed houses, churches, monuments of the past and with them, - lives, hopes and destinies. This is a living proof of what happens when those who are at the rule of a country are not in the service of the people, but use their offices for personal glorification. Today, we should wonder whether we do enough things, in order to support those who fight even at present against autocracies and make use of all instruments available, in order to consolidate the fundamental values of our civilization,’’ Ciuca also said.     

In Bucharest, the members of the OSCE PA are to elect a new composition of the organization’s leadership, including new heads of the general commissions. 

On 29 June – 3 July 2024, the parliament of Romania hosts in Bucharest the 31st Annual Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.  The subject of the meeting is the Parliamentary perspective as regards OSCE’s role in the present security architecture.