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Foreign Affairs on September 27 – October 10, 2005

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Inauguration of the European Commission Delegation and signing of the agreement on monitoring of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border

The European Commission Delegation to Moldova was inaugurated on October 6 at a ceremony with participation of the European commissioner for external relations and neighbourhood policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Ambassador Cesare De Montis will head the delegation.

The foreign ministers of Moldova and Ukraine along with the European commissioner for external relations and neighbourhood policy signed on October 7 the memorandum on introduction of a European Union mission at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. Starting December 1, 2005, Ukraine and Moldova will accept European experts to undertake unforeseen inspections at the border, in order to implement this memorandum.

Special attention of the Council of Europe (CoE) for Moldova

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted on October 4 the resolution and recommendation on the report on monitoring of Moldova’s commitments. The resolution says that the country has advanced significantly on the path of democratic reforms but a number of important commitments have not yet been met in a satisfactory manner. PACE said that the priorities should be the improvement of the functioning of democratic institutions; the independence and efficiency of the judiciary; ensuring freedom and pluralism of the electronic media; the strengthening of local democracy; the raising of economic performance coupled with good social protection and the fight against corruption and trafficking in human beings and organs, modification of legislation on elections, on parties, improvement of the mechanism of international expertise of legislative documents. Also, PACE opts for a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict, with respect for Moldova’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, organisation of free and democratic elections in the region.

Representatives of the Moldovan parliament described the resolution as the best one since Moldova’s adhesion to the CoE (1995). The Moldovan speaker has told the CoE secretary-general that the Moldovan legislature adopted the schedule of legislative measures which will be taken to honour all the commitments towards CoE, and the document will be delivered to CoE in October, while this term will be coordinated with representatives of all parliamentary factions and Moldovan government.

The adoption of resolution and recommendations of PACE coincided with the second ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Moldova. The first ruling gave green light to some of demands of Chisinau City Hall secretary Vladimir Sarban and the manager of a municipal enterprise, Constantin Becciev. ECHR sentenced Moldova for violation of the rights stipulated by Articles 3 (prohibition of torture) and 5 (right to freedom and safety) from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Further, ECHR set public hearings for December 13, 2005 on the case of journalists from the Moldovan Television vs Moldova, in order to discuss the admissibility and appeal. The appeal seeks the recognition of violation by Moldova of the right to free expression stipulated bt Article 10 of the European Convention on Protection of Human Rights by imposing censorship at National Television.

ECHR has passed 23 judgements condemning Moldova until now, with the government being communicated another 200 appeals. The Chisinau authorities have executed all these judgements, except for the ruling on Ilascu group, a decision which remains unfulfilled regarding release of detainees from Tiraspol.

Relations with the Russian Federation remain uncertain

The mission of Russian experts who should arrive in Chisinau in the first half of this month to evaluate the vegetal products for exportation to the Russian Federation did not take place. The Russian side has notified the competent authorities that the mission is postponed or possibly annulled in general.

The situation of exports of alcohol production to the Russian Federation remains uncertain, too, though the official authorities of Moldova and officials of the Russian customs service dismissed the appearance of artificial obstacles on way of exportation of Moldovan wines and cognacs.

According to estimates of Russian wine importers, the share of Moldovan wines on Russian market declined by almost 7 percent in January-August 2005. President Voronin also confirmed this fact, as he told a TV programme that the reduction of exports has a deliberate nature, being aimed to diversify the sale market of alcohol production and reorientation of inflows to the Scandinavian and Asiatic countries.

Belarusian support

Premier Vasile Tarlev has paid a working visit to Belarus. Tarlev had meetings with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Premier Sergey Sidorsky. The sides discussed aspects of bilateral cooperation, possibilities to open Moldovan-Belarusian manufacturers of tractors and trolleys. Also, Tarlev sought the elimination of bureaucratic barriers on way of exportation of fruits and vegetables from Moldova and asked the Belarusian side to consider the possibility to sell oil products to Moldova for a lower price. Moldova will import 20,000 tons of Diesel oil from Belarus this year and some 150,000 tons in 2006.

September 13–26, 2005 October 11–25, 2005