Subject of Palanca cannot be treated as betrayal of nation or sale of territory, Victor Chirila

“The interpretation that Moldova ceded Palanca to Ukraine is incorrect. The signed agreement says there are transferred 7.7 kilometers of the highway at Palanca, which is located on the territory of Moldova. It is not betrayal of the nation and sale of the territory. It is transferred a section of the road that should be maintained at a certain level,” foreign policy expert Victor Chirila, director of the Foreign Policy Association said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The expert said that under this agreement, Ukraine will make sure that the Moldovan citizens in Palanca have access to the 900 hectares of farmland situated beyond the highway and there will be solved the problem of that small fair used by a number of persons. According to Victor Chirila, Ukraine will be responsible for the quality of this infrastructure. “If Ukraine does not honor this commitment, Moldova has enough instruments to make Kiev respect it and I think it will be a very bad gesture on the part of Kiev in the relations with Brussels. The European Union is Moldova’s ally in this issue and any technical problem that will hinder the free movement of our citizens will be solved sooner or later,” said Victor Chirila. The expert said this practice is used in other countries as well. “I consider that by such gestures we show that we think like the Europeans and solve problems in a European style, as France and Germany demonstrated over time. We only learn from experience in order to solve a transport problem that should be dealt with by Ukraine. This problem concerns the connection between the city of Odessa and the Reni port,” said Victor Chirila. The inhabitants of Palanca last week staged a protest, expressing their concern that they will not be able to cultivate their farmland situated beyond the highway that was transferred to Ukraine under the protocol ratified 10 years ago. The move followed the initiation of works to set up border signs in the area by Moldova and Ukraine.