Ion Ceban, the mayor of Chișinău, has been banned from entering Romania and other Schengen countries for five years, as reported by Ziarul de Gardă.
According to Romanian authorities, Ceban poses a threat to the country’s national security. Neither the mayor nor his press service has commented on the situation so far.
Ion Ceban began his political career with the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova and became a member of parliament in 2011. In 2019, he was elected mayor of Chișinău with support from the pro-Russian Socialist Party, although he later left their ranks. In 2021, he founded his own political party, the National Alternative Movement (MAN), which he still leads.
In the past, Ceban opposed Moldova’s European integration. In 2014, he said he was dissatisfied with the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, arguing that Moldova should instead join the Customs Union. Later, during his second term as mayor, he began to openly support a pro-European course.
Nevertheless, despite this change in rhetoric, a U.S. document from 2022 listed Ceban’s MAN party among the entities through which Russia allegedly influences Moldova’s political landscape.
