Foreign Affairs on September 1–15, 2006

Republic of Moldova — Council of Europe

The secretary-general of the Council of Europe (CoE), Tarry Davis, has said at a meeting with Moldova’s resident representative to the CoE that “the «referendum on independence» announced for 17 September by the secessionist authorities of the Transnistrian Region of Moldova, has no legal validity. The Council of Europe supports the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova and calls for the renewal of the negotiating process.”

On September 13, the CoE’s Committee of Ministers examined the issue of adopting a statement on Tiaspol’s intention to organise the so-called “referendum”, while the draft statement was tabled by Moldova’s delegation to the CoE. According to reports by Moldova’s Representation to the CoE, E.U., GUAM member states, Bulgaria, Norway and Romania have backed the draft, but the Russian Federation opposed the adoption of the statement and used all its levers offered by its quality of acting chair of the CoE’s Committee of Ministers to block the adoption of the document.

The CoE’s Committee of Ministers continued to examine the measures of execution of the July 8, 2004 Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on “Ilascu and others vs the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation.” The Moldovan delegation to the CoE reaffirmed the readiness of Moldova’s authorities to execute all commitments resulted from the ECHR Judgment, with the Committee of Ministers receiving a series of appeals by the Reintegration Ministry of Moldova seeking support and cooperation for the release of the two prisoners from Tiraspol. The Finnish representation as acting president of the E.U. reiterated regret with the continued detention of the two prisoners and warned that this situation shadows the Russian Chairmanship in the CoE’s Committee of Ministers.

Republic of Moldova — European Union

European Parliament member Marianne Mikko considers that the Transnistrian referendum “has a provocative and illegitimate nature.” According to a statement released in Strasbourg, Mikko says that the referendum planned by authorities of the self-proclaimed republic “has a provocative and illegitimate nature.”

Moldova’s efforts and its desire to join the European community structures are welcome, but the adherence is out of discussion, because a new enlargement after Romania’s and Bulgaria’s entry would fail. Gernot Erler, state secretary minister of the German Foreign Ministry, has delivered this statement at an international conference themed Republic of Moldova — 15 Years of Independence. According to Erler, the European community has formulated the offer of “the European good neighbourhood policy” for Moldova, this being the only realistic perspective of the European integration process for our country. At the same time, Minister Andrei Stratan said that invoking the blockage of the community constitution and the adhesion of two new members are not enough arguments because the E.U. is negotiating the entry with Balkan countries. According to the minister, the Moldovan authorities want a signal that our country is capable to join the E.U.

Moldova has asked the E.U. Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine to consider the possibility of intensifying the control on transit via the railway portion Cuciurgan-Bender. Reintegration Minister Vasile Sova has launched this appeal at a meeting with heads of E.U. diplomatic missions to Moldova.

Exports of Moldovan goods to Central and Eastern Europe register sensitive rises, according to data of the National Bureau for Statistics. Exports of Moldova to Central and Eastern Europe rose by 25.6 percent in January-July, due to a general recession of 9.4 percent.

The Polish foundation Batory has recently published a report on monitoring of visa policy of E.U. member states, noting that Moldova citizens face “special” conditions. There are few E.U. consulates in Moldova and our citizens have to travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres to apply for visas for some E.U. member countries.

Republic of Moldova — Romania

Romania will not recognise the results of the Transnistrian referendum. According to a statement by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Romania regards the forthcoming referendum as “illegal” and its results as “without any political importance.”

More than 100,000 Moldovans sent letters to the Romanian Consulate in Chisinau in August-September seeking appointments for application for the Romanian citizenship. Representatives of the Romanian consular authorities consider that the exponential rise of the number of applicants for Romanian citizenship is due to allegations that Romania needs more citizens to join the E.U. This agitation could also be due to the recent statements by Romanian president that he would deliver draft laws to the Parliament aimed to simplify the procedure of awarding of the Romanian citizenship and to provide more support to Romanians from outside.

The number of Moldovans who try to cross the border with Romania hidden in motor vehicles rose approximately four-fold in 2006. According to the Romanian police, 129 Moldovan nationals were discovered this year after trying to enter Romania this way, in order to arrive in Western Europe later.

Republic of Moldova — Russian Federation

The information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry has released a commentary on referendum in Transnistria. The Russian authorities consider that Chisinau and a number of European countries “have hurried up to declare the illegality and the provocative nature of the referendum.” The Russian Federation considers that the “decision of the Transnistrian authorities to consult the population must be regarded as a development of the political situation in the region, where there are tries to impose the unitary settlement model.” Moscow says that the initiative of the referendum is a consequence of the decision on hardening of access of Transnistrian enterprises to the foreign market, while “statements on negative consequences of the Transnistrian referendum divert from the need of normalising the conditions for Transnistria’s external economic activity as soon as possible.”

Boris Grizlov, chairman of the Russian State Duma, told journalists that Russian lawmakers will attend the referendum in Transnistria. Grizlov noted that lawmakers have solicited the trip “in order to meet voters,” but he was sure that they would also monitor the referendum.

An office for application for the Russian citizenship has opened in Tiraspol. “Citizens of Transnistria” who do not hold other citizenship are able to apply there. Taking part in the inauguration of the office was the Russian ambassador to Moldova who said that “the opening of this institution will allow a solution to the problem of awarding the citizenship to our co-nationals from Transnistria.” The acts submitted to the office are delivered later to the Russian Embassy in Chisinau.

First Deputy Premier of Moldova Zinaida Greceanii has visited Moscow and discussed issues related to restart of activity of the joint commission of socio-economic cooperation and she attended a reception organised by Moldova’s Embassy on occasion of the 15th anniversary of independence of the country. Greceanii assured that the bilateral relations will strengthen and develop, while problems will be resolved. She agreed with the co-chairman of the bilateral commission, Alexander Fursenko, to resume the talks at level of experts on fields.

The Russian ambassador with special missions, Valeri Kenyaykin, has said that the evacuation of military hardware from Transnistria will be completed soon and “Russia stands ready to finish this process.” The diplomat makes a connection with the need of resuming the dialogue on Transnistrian settlement, saying that “the Russian Foreign Ministry proposes new solutions aimed to unblock the process of settlement between Moldova and Transnistria, but the military presence should not be mixed up with the peacekeeping presence.”

The Russian phyto-sanitary service Rospotrebnadzor will intensify the control on wines imported from Belarus since more than 80 percent of them are made from raw material imported from Moldova and Georgia. Rospotrebnadzor head Gennady Onishchenko said that Moscow will restrict the importation of Belarusian wines, if any low quality wines made in this country are discovered on Russian market.

Moldova in the world

U.S. President George W. Bush has described the relations between the United States and Moldova as excellent at a meeting with the new Moldovan ambassador in Washington. Nicolae Chirtoaca has met with the U.S. president to hand in his credentials, with the American leader appreciating the steps made by Moldova in the past three years toward deepening the political and economic reforms, strengthening the democracy.

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