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The Republic of Moldova — Council of Europe

• The forth report released recently by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE) recommends Moldova to create a ministry of local administration and indicates a number of shortcomings related to decentralisation and financial autonomy of local authorities, as well as excessive influence of central authorities on public administration in the territory, judiciary persecution of some chiefs of local public administration. The recommendations call for adoption of a new law on status of the Chisinau municipality only after the Council of Europe makes an expertise of this document, as well as for presentation of a report on implementation of CLRAE recommendations by a Moldovan high-ranking official in charge with local administration sector. The representatives of Moldova in CLRAE said that some objectives from this report are exaggerated, while certain generalisations are based on distinct cases.

• According to the final document adopted at the 115th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the complete fulfilment of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the Ilascu Group case rests with individual and collective responsibility of member states of the Council of Europe. Execution of the ECHR judgment will be a priority of the Committee of Ministers for next six months, when Romania will hold the presidency. According to mass media, the representative of Moldova at the meeting, Deputy Foreign and European Integration Minister Eugenia Chistruga, has solicited the Committee of Ministers to take measures “in order to reduce the terms for examination of individual appeals to the ECHR and reformation of the mechanism for execution of judgments.”

The Republic of Moldova — European Union

• Cesare De Montis, chief of the European Commission Delegation in Chisinau, said that though the European Union is open to enlargement in continuation, the situation is sensible, especially because several European countries have turned down the E.U. Constitution, as well as due to a number of problems faced by European community. According to the European diplomat, the complete implementation of the Moldova-E.U. Plan will have a significant contribution to the process of integration of Moldova, since it will comply with standards of the community and will enhance its entry chances this way.

• Starting January 1, 2006, Moldova will obtain an advanced system of preferences called “GSP plus” in the commercial relations with the E.U. The new system means lower customs duties for goods exported from Moldova to the E.U. members. At the same time, Moldovan authorities negotiate an asymmetrical trade agreement, which calls for the unilateral opening of the E.U. market for Moldovan goods. This topic is to be tackled at the next meeting of the World Trade Organisation in the mid-December.

• In 2006, Poland intends to increase the funds for support of Moldova in implementing the Moldova-E.U. Action Plan. The Polish authorities have allocated about 250,000 euros for this purpose through different programmes until now and an intergovernmental cooperation agreement, which calls for release of a 15-milion-dollar credit to the Moldovan Government for development projects, is being negotiated.

• Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and Moldovan Premier Vasile Tarlev signed a joint letter to the European Commission on November 16, seeking financing for readjustment of Moldova’s energy network to the Romanian energy system. At present, distribution and transportation grids from Romania do not allow supplies needed to cover the needs of Moldova and a network interconnection project is needed.

The Republic of Moldova — Romania

A number of issues regarding mutual cooperation between Moldova and Romania have been examined during a visit of Vasile Tarlev to Bucharest. In particular, the sides discussed problems regarding:

• Supply of electricity for Moldova’s needs by Romanian energy enterprises. An agreement signed on this occasion calls for functioning of a thermal station in Braila to produce electricity for Moldova on basis of natural gas supplied by our country. The Romanian side hopes to recover within one year its debt from Moldova for electricity supplied in the past years, with the debt being estimated at 30 million dollars.

• Granting of methodical assistance for acceleration of the process of assimilation of European acquis by Moldova. Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said that the Romanian authorities will provide all documents which are part of the community acquis that Moldova needs for adjustment of national legislation.

• Introduction of a simplified visa regime for Moldova. The Romanian authorities have promised to introduce a facility and simplified visa regime for Moldovan citizens who intend to cross the border with Romania.

• Increase of Romanian investments in Moldova. Vasile Tarlev invited Romanian businessmen to use the possibilities to invest in Moldova more decisively. Tarlev indicated the reforms regarding revision of regulation framework and legislation on protection of investments, considerable reduction of taxes as positive signals that give an impulse to this process. The construction of a power station in Orhei, creation of an enterprise for bioenergetics processing of agricultural waste, extension of wholesale trade networks, etc. were mentioned among possible investment projects that could be implemented in the near future.

The Republic of Moldova — Russian Federation

• The patriarch of Moscow and entire Russia, Alexy II, was awarded honours similar to the ones established for chiefs of state, while on a visit to Chisinau. The patriarch was met and accompanied to the airport by the entire top leadership of Moldova: the president, speaker, prime minister and other officials, a situation without precedent in the diplomatic experience of Moldova. The same officials participated in almost all ceremonies included in the visit agenda (divine services, ordainment of the Nisporeni bishop, awarding at the presidency headquarters, visit to the Capriana Monastery). The Honour Guard was lined up for official ceremonies at the presidency headquarters. Alexy II expressed gratitude to the Moldovan leadership for supporting the Orthodox Church and transmitted best regards to the Moldovan president from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who “is very satisfied with what he has discussed with Vladimir Voronin at the CIS summit in Kazan and hopes that the agreements established at this meeting would serve as ground for a further development of bilateral relations.” The sides also discussed the Transnistrian issue, with Alexy II saying that the Transnistrian problem must be settled with the respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova. Once he returned to Russia, Alexy II sent a letter to Vladimir Voronin, thanking him for reception and special support of the Moldovan Orthodox Church.

• Paying an official visit to Bucharest, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov invited all the sides interested in a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict “to support a continued presence of the Russian contingent in the region.” Lavrov reiterated that the presence of Russian military in Transnistria has a positive role, as they halt an open conflict between the two sides. He noted that Moscow will resume the process of withdrawal of Russian troops and ammunition from the Transnistrian region “at the same time with relief of political negotiations on conflict resolution.” The Moldovan leadership has rejected statements of this kind that the Russian defence minister had earlier delivered, saying that the presence of Russian troops in the territory of our country is a “political coverage for Transnistrian authorities” and a violation of the 1999 OSCE Summit agreement, though which Russia had assumed the commitment to withdraw its troops and ammunition from Moldova.

• Vyacheslav Kovalenko, chief of the department for CIS affairs in the Moscow Foreign Ministry, has recently delivered a series of statements on Moldovan-Russian relations, saying that their improvement “depends on Moldova alone, since Russia would like to see Moldova independent, neutral and demilitarised, and it is ready to interact with Moldova on international, economic and commercial arena.” According to the Russian diplomat, the problems in relations between the two countries do not confine themselves to the Transnistrian issue alone, they are also related to “respect for rights of minorities and Russian language in Moldova, attitude of Chisinau towards NATO, participation in GUAM, and others.”

• The Moldovan delegation to the Vienna-based Permanent Council has accused the Russian Federation of economic blackmail in the context of the Transnistrian conflict. The economic pressures are applied on Moldova through the recent illicit privatisation of the Cuciurgan power station by the Russian state-owned company RAO EAS and electricity turnoffs on the right bank of the Dniester river on November 9. The Moldovan diplomacy considers that these actions of the Russian authorities and their representatives at energy enterprises must be tackled on the international arena.

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