Romanian PM pays an official visit to the Metropolis of Bessarabia: future prospects discussed

Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă visited the headquarters of the Metropolis of Bessarabia in Chisinau on Friday, February 11, 2022.

The Romanian PM was received by the local hierarchs, including Metropolitan Petru of Bessarabia, Bishop Antonie of Balti and Bishop Veniamin of Southern Bessarabia, with whom he held talks in a warm atmosphere.

The meeting agenda included the following topics:

The situation and dynamics of the institutions and communities of the Metropolis of Bessarabia.
The need to improve the legislative framework of the Republic of Moldova in the field of religious denominations in order to align European standards.
The approach by the Romanian state authorities in the dialogue with the Moldovan authorities on the issue of restitution of church property abusively confiscated by the occupying Soviet state.
Supplementing government funds to support the clergy of the Metropolis of Bessarabia.
The need to build new Romanian cathedrals in the municipalities of Chisinau, Balti and Cahul, as centres of Romanian Orthodox spirituality.
Creating a stable and permanent framework of cooperation between the Metropolis of Bessarabia and the Government of Romania for the benefit of the Romanian Orthodox believers in the Republic of Moldova, including capitalizing and promoting the Romanian cultural heritage.
The openness of the Metropolis of Bessarabia, as a social actor of prime importance, for cooperation with the central and local authorities of the Republic of Moldova.
Bringing the issue of the Metropolis of Bessarabia to the agenda of European bodies and institutions.

During the talks, His Eminence Metropolitan Petru emphasized that the Metropolis of Bessarabia is the only national institution from the interwar period reactivated east of the Prut River and, as a keeper and promoter of the Romanian spiritual identity, is an integrating factor of the cultural space and common spiritual of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, ensuring the trans-political unity of the Romanian world.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca expressed concern about the situation of the local structure of the Romanian Patriarchate and stressed that the Romanian Government would continue to actively support the Metropolis of Bessarabia, which currently holds over one million Bessarabian Romanians who have regained their Romanian citizenship.

As a token of appreciation and gratitude for the Romanian Government’s support for the Metropolis of Bessarabia, Metropolitan Petru awarded the Romanian Prime Minister the Church Order of the Right-believing Ruler Prince Saint Stephen the Great, 1st degree.

His Eminence also presented the Romanian PM with an icon of the Holy Hierarch Dionysius Erhan of Cetatea Alba and Ismail.

In turn, PM Nicolae Ciucă presented the Metropolitan of Bessarabia with a medallion with the effigy of Saint Stephen the Great.

His Excellency Daniel Ioniță, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to Chisinau, also attended the meeting.

The parties agreed to remain in permanent dialogue to resolve, in a constructive European spirit, the issues addressed at the meeting, the Press Office of the Metropolis of Bessarabia reports.

Honest dialogue between the Republic of Moldova and the Metropolis of Bessarabia

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca was in Chisinau on Friday for a joint sitting of the two countries’ governments. During this meeting, the Prime Minister referred to the Metropolis of Bessarabia:

“We count on your support, of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, for specific issues of interest to us, on which we would like to see progress. I would call, for example, our request, also addressed during the previous governances, to identify solutions to some of the problems the Metropolis of Bessarabia is facing.”

“I think it is appropriate to analyze the situation of the Metropolis of Bessarabia and open a real dialogue between the authorities of the Republic of Moldova and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, which – I am convinced – will have a positive reverberation in our societies,” Nicolae Ciuca said, AGERPRES reports.