The authorities cannot be accused of non-transparence as regards the ceding of a section of the Odessa-Reni highway at Palanca to Ukraine, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie Leanca told villagers on July 2, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The dialogue was permanent. Nobody can accuse us of non-transparence and lack of information. It is our commitment. What was signed can no more be negotiated. There is no other way of acting,” Iurie Leanca said while on a visit to the village. The minister said that since 2009 the Moldovan authorities have paid visits to Palanca to inform the residents about the state of affairs. “Why did we delay the demarcation of the border? Because since last September we have thoroughly analyzed how to do the demarcation so as to avoid subsequent problems and to create conditions for the inhabitants of Palanca,” said Iurie Leanca. According to the minister, the official Kiev exerted pressure so that Moldova finalized the procedure for transferring the road section, in accordance with the Additional Protocol to the State Border Treaty ratified in 2001. The Ukrainian officials made it clear that if the procedure is delayed, they will demand that the persons crossing the border prove that they own €1,200 or the equivalent of this sum for maintenance while on Ukrainian territory. “Such a decision would have seriously affected the Moldovans because we go in large numbers to Ukraine, not they come in large numbers to Moldova,” said Iurie Leanca. He also said that the foreign minister of Ukraine is expected to Chisinau early next week. The discussions will also center on the situation in Palanca. The joint group of experts of Moldova and Ukraine this week has started to set up frontier signs near Palanca. On July 1, more than 200 residents of the village protested for about three hours, expressing their concern that they will not have access to their farmland located beyond the highway.