Romanian Ambassador: Land Claim Is Misunderstanding

Romania has no territorial claims towards Bulgaria, according to Romanian Ambassador in Sofia, Anton Pacuretu.

Pacuretu met Thursday with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dimitar Tsanchev, the press office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

The Ambassador's explanation came on the heels of statements of Romanian Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu who, a day earlier, brought up the issue of the disputed territory of 17 square kilometers in an interview for a local TV station.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev rejected the possibility of convening the Consultative Council on National Security in connection with Romania's claims and said that if there is a problem, it will be solved in Europe.

"In order to join the EU in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania have signed the documents for the absence of any territorial claims between the two countries, the President," cited by Standard daily, told reporters, stressing Diaconescu was talking about a unresolved issue, not territorial claims.

Plevneliev pointed out that similar problems have existed for 20 years, but are no territorial claims, and they cannot be solved with interviews. According to him, the intergovernmental committee will surely do the job while the Foreign Ministry had reacted quickly and asked the Romanian Ambassador for an explanation.

"We are good neighbors with Romania. I think that by 15 April this case will be decided in a European way," he added.

During the he meeting with the Ambassador of Romania, the Bulgarian side expressed its dismay over the statement of the Romanian Foreign Minister before local media regarding negotiations for the delimitation of the Black Sea area.

"Their interpretation that territorial claims between the two countries might exist is dangerous and inconsistent with the spirit of our common belonging to the EU," said Deputy Minister Tsanchev.

Pacuretu stressed that Romania has no territorial claims towards Bulgaria and labeled what happened a misunderstanding.

Tsanchev further pointed out that the Bulgarian side also does not accept allegations that there is a Romanian ethnic minority, explaining such statements are not in the interest of good neighborly relations between the two countries.

He noted that the issue was not raised at the joint meeting Bulgarian and Romanian governments.

Pacuretu replied that Bulgarian citizens with Romanian identity are the spiritual bridge between the two countries and they have no problems in Bulgaria.

According to diplomatic sources cited by the Mediafax agency and the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), the alleged disputed territory on the Black Sea border between Bulgaria and Romania is located on the route of the future South Stream gas pipeline.

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