The leader of the PES-affiliated Democratic Party of Moldova will continue to support the law on the special status of Taraclia

Meeting DPM’s president Marian Lupu at PES headquarters today in Brussels, Sergei Stanishev thanked him for following up on his commitment to support a special law paving the way for granting the ethnic Bulgarian-populated region of Taraclia in Moldova. During his visit to Moldova in October last year, Stanishev raised the issue before the President, the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister of Moldova.

During his meetings Stanishev was assured that the rights of the Bulgarian community are guaranteed and will not be affected by the upcoming administrative reform in the country, i.e. that the Taraclia region would not be split or reshaped.

The draft bill passed in Parliament at first reading on 3 April will create the possibility for Taraclia to obtain the status of ‘National cultural district’. There are more than 30 000 Bulgarians living in the area. During the debate in the Moldovan Parliament, Lupu spoke three times in support of the draft bill underlining that ‘…this is the European approach – integration instead of assimilation of the different communities in Moldova’.

Lupu also thanked Stanishev for his support and the key role of PES during the last general elections in the country as well as during the negotiations on the formation of a new government which followed in November 2014. The Democratic Party of Moldova which holds an observer status at PES was the only pro-European party in Moldova which increased its parliamentary representation compared to the previous mandate.

Its leader Marian Lupu is on a 3-day mission to Brussels to sign a cooperation agreement with the S&D Group in the European Parliament.