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Political analyses and commentaries published in 2003

Would CEC preserve its independence?
December 22, 2003
On December 16 Central Electoral Commission’s six year mandate expired. Although under Moldova law CEC members could hold two mandates at most, Moldovan authorities chose to replace its entire membership. This radical change does not run counter to the law, however it raises eyebrows[]

Elections

2003 political year
Igor Botan, December 14, 2003
The following events have had a major impact on the political scenery of the Republic of Moldova: May general local elections, efforts to federalise Republic of Moldova; joining EU campaign; governing’s campaign promoting Moldovan nationalism, etc[]

Governmental policies

“Kozak plan” Implications
Igor Botan, November 30, 2003
Russian Federation’s Memorandum on the principles of establishing a unified state, also known as “Kozak plan”, has triggered yet another political crisis in the Republic of Moldova[]

Transnistria

Memorandum on principles of establishing a unified state
November 25, 2003
Kremlin administration’s initiative on basic principles of the unified state has all the chances to be in centre of public attention of Moldova for quite a while[]

Transnistria

Ideological eclecticism generator of confusion
November 20, 2003
A string of recent events are illustrative of Moldovan authorities’ political and ideological eclecticism that is generative quite a number of confusions[]

Political parties

Causes of corruption in judiciary
Iustina Cibotari, November 2, 2003
Several days prior to the professional day of the jurisprudence, President Voronin addressed the Parliament and was rather critical on the judiciary system in the Republic of Moldova[]

Justice and legal bodies

Asymmetric reasoning
October 20, 2003
At the end of November expires Republic of Moldova’s presidency over Council of Europe Ministerial Council[]

Foreign policy / European integrationTransnistria

Who would take us to Europe?
Oazu Nantoi, October 19, 2003
Political developments in the last twenty years have changed dramatically the political geography of the European continent. In May 2004 European Union would open up to ten new members, whereas in 2007 three other members, i.e. Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia are expected to join EU[]

Foreign policy / European integration

Political concord
October 13, 2003
Almost one year after the draft on settling Transdnistrian conflict via federalization was made public in Kiev, the Head of OSCE Mission to Moldova stated that the elaboration of a compromise political Agreement is underway, which would allow for a complete resolution of the conflict[]

Transnistria

One step forward, two steps back…
October 6, 2003
President Voronin’s negative reaction to the establishment of the Single Economic Area (SEA) by Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus has spurred some contradictory reactions among the Moldovan society[]

Foreign policy / European integration

CIS Summit and European Integration
Igor Botan, October 5, 2003
Albeit there were quite a lot of speculations lately on the European vector of the Moldovan foreign policy, still there is much doubt on the sincerity of the Communist authorities in this respect[]

Foreign policy / European integration

European Integration Conception — at last…
Mariana Argint, September 21, 2003
The Government has finally prepared the draft of the “Conception for European Integration of the Republic of Moldova”. Its discussion and more accurate definition are yet to come[]

Foreign policy / European integration

Changes in the economic policy?
September 9, 2003
Observers indicate that Government activity, especially of its economic bloc, would significantly improve after Marian Lupu was appointed as a Minister of Economy. He has the knowledge and experience qualifying him for this position[]

Governmental policies

The sociological portrait of new elect mayors
Igor Botan, September 7, 2003
Over the summer of 2003 the governmental media has written extensively about the problems being encountered by the local public administration bodies formed following the local general elections of 25 May 2003[]

Elections

Republica Moldova — the country of projects, concepts, strategies…
September 3, 2003
In his speech of August 27 on the Independence Day celebrations, President Voronin stated “Never was Moldova so close to the European processes”. The significance of the message is better grasped if compared to the previous two speeches of 2001 and 2002 entitled “I do believe in Moldova’s future” and “Independence is conditioned by the reintegration of the country”[]

Governmental policies

Negative trend in the electoral process
August 25, 2003
In mid-August the final report of the OSCE observation mission, Report on Local Elections in Moldova, was posted on the its official website. The report was accompanied by a note, entitled “Negative trend observed during Moldova’s local elections must be reversed”[]

Elections

Ideological inconsistency
August 19, 2003
During the vacation period Tiraspol was mainly the one to wage the informal war with Chisinau. Tiraspol continues to employ the same methods, however with some minor innovations. One of the old methods employed are the appeals for support to various representatives of Russian elite[]

Political partiesTransnistria

Changes on the Political Scene
Igor Botan, August 17, 2003
On 19 July 2003, the Founding Congress of a new political party — the Alliance Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova) (AMN) took place[]

Political parties

Transdnistrian project
August 12, 2003
On August 6, Transdnistrian leaders made public their own draft Constitution for the prospective federation. In fact, it has nothing to do with establishing a federation, but rather with establishing a union of independent states, i.e. confederation, or as they put it “contractual federation”[]

Transnistria

European Integration — A Strategic Objective?
August 7, 2003
On 31 July 2003, The Parliament held the closing meeting of the 2003 spring-summer session, which heard reports by President Voronin, Prime Minister Tarlev and Speaker Ostapciuc[]

Foreign policy / European integration

The Reform of Armed Forces of Moldova
Cristian Untila, August 3, 2003
Recently the Parliament has adopted a series of normative acts on the armed forces. Thus, a decision on sending a contingent of Moldovan troops to Iraq was adopted, as well as one on reducing the effective of the National Army and of the Security and Information Service[]

Governmental policies

Normative aspects of the lawyer profession in Moldova
Vitalie Nagacevschi, July 20, 2003
On 13 May 1999, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova adopted the Law No. 395-XIV on Lawyers. According to this law, practising of the lawyer profession was conditional upon a given lawyer’s membership of the Union of Lawyers of the Republic of Moldova, the Union being a professional organisation of public right, instituted by the same law[]

Justice and legal bodies

Endless elections?
July 17, 2003
More than one month has passed since the date of the general local elections, but it seems that they will never end. The runoff repeat voting for the election of mayors was held on 22 June and 6 July, but the wave of complaints against the results of the elections is growing further[]

Elections

Political parties between the EU and the CIS
Stefan Gorda, July 14, 2003
A defining element for understanding the position of parties on the issue of European integration is the way they conceive the geopolitical orientation of our state[]

Foreign policy / European integrationPolitical parties

Political Parties and European Integration
Stefan Gorda, July 7, 2003
In the Republic of Moldova, the European option has first gained shape in the administrative structures rather than inside the political parties[]

Foreign policy / European integrationPolitical parties

The project of federalisation of the Republic of Moldova
Igor Botan, June 29, 2003
One year ago, on 3 July 2002, the OSCE project on the resolution of the Transdnistrian conflict through the federalisation of the Republic of Moldova was launched in Kiev[]

Transnistria

The Discontent of the Victorious
June 24, 2003
More than two weeks have elapsed since the end of the local elections. However, it is still not possible to make a complex analysis of the results because the final, complete results have not been published yet[]

ElectionsGovernment — opposition relations

The Vector of European Integration
Igor Botan, June 15, 2003
According to the Government Plan of Activities for the first quarter of 2003, the Conception of European Integration was to be developed by 14 March 2003, and promulgated by the President on 9 May 2003, on Europe Day[]

Foreign policy / European integration

Political style
Igor Botan, June 1, 2003
The behaviour of the Moldovan authorities during the recent local elections has created a good occasion to talk about the emergence of a distinct political style of the representatives of our ruling party[]

Political parties

Local elections — preliminary conclusions
May 28, 2003
It appears that the current campaign for the general local elections of 25 May 2003 has differed dramatically from the previous seven electoral campaigns held in Moldova after its declaration of independence in 1991[]

Elections

The Moldovan Army
Viorel Cibotaru, May 18, 2003
On 18 April 2003 the Moldovan governmental paper published an interview with the Minister of Defence Victor Gaiciuc on the issue of Moldova’s international military co-operation[]

Governmental policies

Electoral Statistics
May 12, 2003
The electoral campaign for the election of local public administrations has stepped into its final stage. The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has published the data on the number of candidates put up by the electoral contestants, who will compete for mandates of mayors and councillors in local (village, town and municipality) and raion (district) councils[]

Elections

Moldova — future EU neighbour or member?
Valeriu Gheorghiu, April 27, 2003
European Union (EU) relations with Moldova are as old as 10 years, yet they have evolved much slower than with other European countries. Most often, the blame is put on the Transdnistrian conflict and Russia’s involvement, as well as on the fact that Moldova belongs to the former Soviet space[]

Foreign policy / European integration

The 2003 Electoral Campaign
April 25, 2003
There’s one month left until the local elections of 25 May 2003. Practically, most of the practical work of preparation for the elections has already been done[]

Elections

Two Years in Government — Political Achievements
Igor Botan, April 16, 2003
This April it has been two years since the Chairman of the Communist Party of Moldova (CPM) Vladimir Voronin was elected President of the Republic of Moldova and the Tarlev Cabinet was approved[]

Political partiesGovernmental policies

The Referendum in Transdnistria
April 15, 2003
On 6 April 2003, the “constitutional referendum on the introduction of the private ownership of land” was held in the Transdnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova[]

Transnistria

The territorial-administrative reform of the Republic of Moldova
Igor Botan, April 6, 2003
On 21 March the new Law on the Territorial-Administrative Organisation of the Republic of Moldova entered into force. To justify the proposed revision of the local public administration system, the Moldovan authorities have put forward two major arguments[]

Governmental policiesGovernment — opposition relations

2003 local elections
March 31, 2003
On March 20 the Parliament set the date for general local elections, i.e. May 25. Under the election law, the “electoral period” commences immediately the election date is set[]

Elections

Transdnestrian conflict solution — a new stage
March 19, 2003
Albeit a month already passed since the President made public his initiative on settling the Transdnistrian conflict via developing a new Constitution jointly with Tiraspol administration, the situation is still quite fuzzy[]

Transnistria

Reformation of “Teleradio-Moldova” Company
Cristian Untila, March 9, 2003
Reformation of the “Teleradio-Moldova” Company was in the spotlight of public attention last year. Further, it was the subject of the PACE Resolution recommending Moldovan authorities to turn “Teleradio-Moldova” into a public institution, and thus resolve the conflict between the ruling party and opposition[]

Governmental policies

Revision of the local public administration system
March 5, 2003
Local public administration system has taken center stage again. It was easy to foresee that sooner or later Communist Party would revise local public administration, as it was among its key promises made in the parliamentary elections of February 25, 2001[]

Governmental policies

Regrouping of political forces
February 25, 2003
Last week was marked by the regrouping of political forces. A group of left wing parties, including the Communist Party as well, invited President Voronin to join the efforts in finding solutions for the “political consensus and civic peace in the society”[]

ElectionsPolitical parties

Overview of electoral law
Igor Botan, February 16, 2003
The Electoral Code has been the most disputed legal act lately. Since its adoption in 1997, 15 laws on its amendment have been passed. Out of the total 205 Articles, 90 have been amended, 250 modifications being operated[]

Elections

Mega-initiative of the President Voronin
February 12, 2003
In the last two years the President of the Republic of Moldova has been very prolific in launching different kind of initiatives. For instance, his most important initiatives in foreign affairs concerned Republic of Moldova integration in the Russia-Belarus Union, Eurasia Union and European Union[]

Governmental policiesTransnistria

What did Walter Schwimmer really said?
February 7, 2003
After the opposition engaged in a series of protest rallies, authorities launched a denigration campaign against them employing the entire range of mass media controlled by the state. This is a defense reaction of the ruling party, otherwise it would have to acknowledge that there is a serious political crisis in the country[]

Government — opposition relations

A new political crisis
February 5, 2003
The political crisis is escalating in the Republic of Moldova. When identifying the parameters of this crisis we should consider how does it evolve, who are the stakeholders, what generated it, political context and its impact on the political evolution in the Republic of Moldova[]

Government — opposition relations

Is opposition consolidating?!
January 28, 2003
After 2001 parliamentary elections, which brought the Communist Party to power, it became clear that the opposition would have a major role to play in the Moldovan politics only if it consolidates[]

Political partiesGovernment — opposition relations

Undermining the integrity of the electoral process
January 17, 2003
“Integrity of the electoral process” is the only criteria for assessing the way local elections are conducted. This principles requires observance of both ethic norms and provisions of the election law so as to allow citizens to freely express their will[]

Elections

2003 electoral year
January 9, 2003
General local elections are due in 2003. The 4-year mandate of the local bodies expires on May 23 consequently elections are to be held in May. It would be very interesting to examine the relationships between the ruling party and opposition in this context[]

Elections