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At a plenary session on Tuesday, the Romanian Senate adopted an official statement on US ambassador to Moldova James Pettit's dismissal of union with Romania as impractical.

The document was drafted by the Senate Foreign Policy Committee at the suggestion of Senate Chairman Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

On the 25th anniversary of Moldova's state independence on August 27, US ambassador in Chisinau James Pettit said that the country needs to remain a sovereign and independent state inside secure borders, while joining Romania as a means to join the European Union or for any other reason wouldn't be practical and is not a choice that would improve the situation in Moldova. He said that only cooperation between politicians in Moldova and the country's people would made things better, that Moldova is not Romania, it has its own history, it is a multiethnic country, with people speaking different languages. He also mentioned problems in Transnistria, which the central government can't control and which needs a special status inside Moldova.

The Senate statement points out that the American diplomat's words were surprising and worrisome, as well as received with lack of satisfaction by public opinion in Romania.

The statement also points out that these words won't and cannot affect Romania's partnership with the US and would not change Romania's foreign policy highlights as far as Moldova is concerned. However, they can't overlook the desire of citizens in the two countries for a common European future and also cannot ignore the Romanian identity people on both sides of the Prut River share, the Senate statement points out.

"The Romanian Senate reaffirms that our painful history and hundreds of thousands of victims of Stalinist repression could find moral reparation in the support, including by the US, for Moldova's European direction, and it stresses as well that the cooperation and partnership between Moldova and Romania will take their best shape in Moldova joining the EU," the document states. Agerpres