Moldovan PM asks Romanian government involvement in issues of border crossing points

Chisinau, 7 August /MOLDPRES/- Prime Minister Pavel Filip today sent a letter to Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, stating the issues of border crossing points and calls for involvement of Bucharest government to identify solutions, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

“Lately, signs of excessive congestion at border crossing points are more and more common. Even if some special measures were taken, the control takes a long time. This is even more evident in the summer, with many cars stationed at customs, including families traveling with children and elderly people," he said.

Filip noted the openness and promptness which issues related to the lives of citizens in both countries are usually dealt with. "In line with our open and dynamic partnership, I ask the involvement of Romanian government to identify an optimal solution to ease traffic," he said.

The premier has recently paid an unexpected visit to Leuşeni Customs, where he found irregularities, due to which the customs waiting time increased significantly. Then he demanded the resignation of the head of the customs post and the head of the Border Police at Leuseni crossing point. As a result, they have resigned.

The study "Assessment of Moldova's Commercial Corridors", conducted with USAID support, shows that "the total waiting time at the border for gods entering Romania generally takes much longer than at all other EU border crossings." Therefore, the average time required to cross the Romanian border is almost 6 hours (380.4 minutes), while in the case of non-Romanian border of the EU it is about 23.8 minutes.