From: msirbu@next5.cs.umr.edu (Mihai Sirbu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.romanian
Subject: Moldova/Romania News from RFE/RL, 10/02/92
Date: 2 Oct 92 18:40:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: umr.1992Oct2.184007.27343
Organization: University of Missouri-Rolla, Missouri's Technological University

RFE/RL Daily Report                 No 190, 2 October 1992

OTHER CURRENCY DEVELOPMENTS.  Belarus replaced the ruble on 1
October with a special coupon system in areas near the Lithuanian
and Ukrainian borders, ITAR-TASS reported. A Belarusian National
Bank official explained that the move was made because the
introduction of non-ruble currencies in Lithuania and Ukraine could
prompt an unwanted influx of rubles into Belarus. Lithuania
replaced the ruble on 1 October with temporary coupons that will be
used until the new Lithuanian currency, the litas, is introduced,
Reuters reported. And Moldovan Economics Minister Sergiu Certan was
quoted by Interfax on 1 October as saying that it would be a
mistake to introduce a national currency now when Moldova is in an
economic crisis. (Keith Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

ROMANIAN, MOLDOVAN PRESIDENTS ON MOLDOVAN STATEHOOD.  Challenged by
an interviewer to speak out for the unification of Romania and
Moldova, Romanian President Ion Iliescu told ECO Magazin (see the
September-October 1992 issue , RFE/RL Inc.) that pro-unification
propaganda in Romania "has backfired in Moldova, and not just among
the Russian-speakers but among the Romanian Moldovans themselves.
During the last two years one has witnessed there a movement away
from unification...The [Moldovan] people's reservations on the
issue of unification have grown." Moldovan President Mircea Snegur
in turn told visiting Hungarian journalists on 30 September, as
cited by Moldovapres, that "Moldova's independence is the choice of
its people and no one has the right to conduct a policy opposing
that choice...The existence of a Moldovan independent state is in
the interest of all its neighbors, including Romania. (Vladimir
Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)

ROMANIA'S OPPOSITION CHARGES ELECTORAL FRAUD.  The Democratic
Convention , an alliance of 18 centrist parties and organizations,
stated on 1 October that it had "irrefutable proof" of manipulation
of election results in at least one county--Dolj.  The DC said it
would ask prosecutors to annul the election and order a new vote
there. Rompres quoted other instances of possible fraud from the
Prahova and Dimbovita counties, where electoral officers had
reportedly campaigned in the polling stations and spoiled ballots
vanished before they could be verified. Meanwhile, the DC launched
a drive to win the rural vote for Emil Constantinescu, its
candidate in the 11 October presidential runoff. (Dan Ionescu,
RFE/RL Inc.)

ROMANIA REACTS TO MFN VOTE. President Ion Iliescu expressed
bitterness over the vote in the US House of Representatives against
restoration of most-favored-nation trade status for Romania.  Radio
Bucharest quoted him as saying that the decision "protracts the
discrimination to which Romania is unfairly subjected." Iliescu
accused Hungarian-born US Congressman Tom Lantos of having
"misinformed" the House on the situation in Romania.  In a separate
statement, the Foreign Ministry said that the House vote
demonstrates both "a lack of understanding" for the changes in
Romania and the "virulence of the anti-Romanian lobby in the US."
(Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL Inc.)

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Copyright 1992, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organization: Doctoral student, Biology, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA