ROMANIAN QUESTION AFFECTS MOLDOVAN COALITION TALKS.

President Petru Lucinschi and the pro-presidential Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova consider that any coalition government must be based on a clear understanding that unification of Moldova with Romania is ruled out. Officials told the Monitor that the BDPM and presidential circles are asking their would-be coalition partners to: commit themselves to observance of Moldova’s constitution; refrain from propagating the Romanian national idea in Moldova; support Moldova’s draft of a treaty of good-neighborly relations with Romania; and observe the rights of ethnic minorities. A further condition is the acceptance of "mutually advantageous economic cooperation" with Russia and CIS countries.

The Democratic Convention and the Party of Democratic forces have agreed that the post of chairman of parliament shall be occupied by a BDPM leader, while the prime minister shall be nominated by the DC and approved by the president. The three parties are at this stage in agreement on the need to relaunch economic reforms in cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. (Monitor interviews, Flux, Basapress, April 14 and 15)

Moscow Accuses Tbilisi of Supporting "Terrorism" in Abkhazia.