Independent Member of the European Parliament Luis-Vicențiu Lazarus (NI) drew attention in the plenary session of the European Parliament to the fact that priests had been beaten in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and that the Romanian minority had always been mistreated in Ukraine. He also said that he agreed with Moldova’s accession and had voted in favor of it in the European Union, but wondered whether it would not have been simpler for Moldova to unite with Romania.

Below is the full statement by Luis-Vicențiu Lazarus (NI), an independent member of the European Parliament:

„Yesterday, priests were beaten in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Orthodox priests of the Romanian community. Last year, the Metropolitan was beaten and has been dragged through fictitious trials for years.

The Romanian minority has always been mistreated in Ukraine. And now I don’t understand, don’t these countries that are about to join the European Union have to respect the rights of minorities?

We always talk about LGBT minorities, but we don’t talk about a minority as important as the Romanian one, so over half a million people in Ukraine have even invented a Moldovan language. There is no Moldovan language, just as there is no Moldovan republic.

Moldova is a region of Romania. The fact that there is a republic of Moldova is only because a Bolshevik and a Nazi made the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact 85 years ago, and for Romania this pact has not yet been denounced.

So, don’t get me wrong, I agree that Moldova should join, and I voted in favor of this in the European Union. But wouldn’t it have been easier to unite with Romania? It would have been much easier, I think.”

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