"You are not my brother": the mayor of the Romanian Yass broke off twinning with Chisinau

The mayor of the Romanian city of Iasi, Mihai Chirica, announced the start of the procedure for suspending twinning with the city of Chisinau after the mayor of the Moldovan capital, Ion Ceban, was banned from entering Romania and the Schengen area.

According to him, the law obliges the authorities to ensure direct cooperation between the twin cities, and in the absence of such an opportunity, it is envisaged to suspend the agreement until the ban is lifted.

"We are faced with a big and painful situation for me as mayor, because we are talking about a big city, Iasi, and another big city, Chisinau, the capital. But there are some restrictions related to the way of communication," said the Romanian mayor.

Kirika explained that since the cities are sister cities, cooperation implies direct visits and direct contacts, however, the ban imposed on Cheban makes it impossible to continue relations in the current form.

"This is a very serious problem. Because within the framework of this cooperation agreement, the mayor of Chisinau cannot come to Iasi. This is the problem of suspending diplomatic relations," he added.

Mihai Kirika clarified that this decision is not directed against the residents of Chisinau.

"The residents of Chisinau are dear to me, I have many friends there, I love them very much, and they can come to the mayor of Yass without hesitation and knock on his door," concluded Kirika.

In July, the mayor of Chisinau, the leader of the Moldovan opposition party National Alternative Movement, Ion Ceban, was banned from entering Romania and the Schengen countries for five years. Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Tsoyu said that the decision was made "for reasons of national security", based on documents confirming the "complicated ties" of the mayor of Chisinau with representatives of the Russian Federation.

Ion Ceban's lawyers appealed this decision to Romanian authorities. In their opinion, this decision has no legal basis and contradicts fundamental rights.

The Moldovan politician himself called the entry ban a "political massacre" by the current leadership of Moldova in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections this fall. In a video message published earlier, he directly accused President Maia Sandu and her ruling Action and Solidarity party of colluding with Bucharest.

As reported by EADaily, Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban called the Romanian president a "cowardly mumble" for his decision to restrict entry into the country. He appealed to the international community to "have the courage and recognize that this decision of Romania is political and has nothing to do with EU standards."