Foreign Affairs on October 16–31, 2006

Republic of Moldova — Council of Europe

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has examined the ECHR judgment on Andrei Ivantoc and Tudor Petrov-Popa. Delegates of the Council of Europe resumed debates on execution of the ECHR judgment on October 25, with the Finnish delegation reiterating concerns on behalf of the E.U. Presidency over non-settlement of this case and urging the states concerned to take all the measures needed for the immediate release of Andrei Ivantoc and Tudor Petrov-Popa. The continuation of the arbitrary and illegal detention of the two applicants is a violation of Article 46 of the European Convention on Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, while the non-execution of this judgment by the Russian Federation deteriorates the image of this country within the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, as well as the credibility of the entire human rights protection system. The E.U. statement was joined by Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Georgia. The Moldovan delegation supported the E.U. intervention and outlined that talks on this issue must focus on obligation of all CoE member states to respect the ECHR judgments that envisage them.

The ECHR has decided to urgently examine an application lodged against Moldovan government by citizen Vitalie Colibaba, who says that policemen at the Buiucani district of the Chisinau municipality have tortured him. Lawyers of the plaintiff delivered this statement at an October 30 press conference. The plaintiff noted that he has appealed to the Prosecutor-General’s Office to investigate this case of torture, but his appeal was turned down and he decided to call on international justice. It should be noted that the Prosecutor-General’s Office has sent a letter to the Moldovan Bar after Zafoinov had lodged an application with the ECHR and threatened to file penal cases against lawyers who lodge “groundless” applications with international organisations and so “harm the foreign image of Moldova,” with representatives of the bar and human rights institutions (ombudsman) describing the intervention of the Prosecutor’s Office as abusive.

The special representative of the Council of Europe secretary-general to Moldova, Vladimir Ristovski, hopes that new members of the electronic media watchdog CCA are appointed not for the interest of political parties, but of citizens and society in general. The European official has delivered this statement at a meeting with Moldovan Speaker Marian Lupu. According to Ristovski, the Council of Europe will carefully watch the implementation of the new Broadcasting Code.

Republic of Moldova — European Union

The European Parliament has passed a resolution which denounces the recent referendum in the Transnistrian region and invites the Russian Federation to support the multilateral efforts for settlement of the conflict in its neighbourhood. Russia was told to refrain from supporting the so-called referendum, to honour the Istanbul OSCE commitments on withdrawal of troops and munitions from Moldova. European parliamentarians called on sides participating in the conflict in the region to prevent a worsening of situation and to resume the negotiations. The Chisinau government was asked to take measures and to propose solutions for respect for rights of ethnic minorities and local autonomy.

The European Union has disbursed 1.2 million euros for Moldova within the Food Security Programme, a grant which will be used to develop the agriculture. The total value of the Food Security Programme for Moldova is more than 9 million euros and aims to support activities in rural sector.

The E.U. has launched two institutional consolidation tools for Moldova — Twinning Mechanism and the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange TAIEX. Cesare de Montis, ambassador of the European Commission Delegation in Moldova, has told a news conference that Twinning project aims to strengthen the public administrations, human resources and management skills needed to implement the European legislation, while the TAIEX programme provides experts in public sector with opportunities of work and cooperation with E.U. partners, with the purpose to adjust the local legislation to European norms. Moldova has become the second country in CIS after Ukraine where the Twinning operations were launched. The head of the European Commission Delegation noted that all ministries and departments in Moldova may apply for Twinning projects in their fields.

A Moldovan delegation attended the 7th meeting of the Moldova-E.U. Cooperation Committee in Brussels on October 19. It evaluated progresses achieved by Moldova in the process of implementation of the Moldova-E.U. Action Plan. Representatives of the European Commission encouraged the progresses related to adoption of a new legislative framework on justice aimed to ensure the independence and fairness of judiciary, to abolish the death penalty, to modify the Election Code in line with recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR, to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and to cooperate with civil society. The Moldovan delegation thanked the European Commission for proposing, at a sitting of the Council of Justice and Interior Ministers on October 5–6, the elaboration of a mandate for negotiation of agreements on facilitation of visa regime and readmission with Moldova.

Romanian Foreign Minister and Ambassador Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged, special representative of the European Union for Moldova, accompanied by General Ferenc Banfi, head of the E.U. Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine, met on October 26. They discussed support for Moldova’s European path and finding of a lasting solution to the Transnistrian conflict. Romania, future member of the E.U., is ready to contribute actively to articulation and implementation of E.U. initiatives on Moldova, including on the Transnistrian conflict.

E.U. representatives have posted readiness, at a sitting of the Moldova-E.U. Subcommittee II Trade and Investments in Brussels, to launch soon internal procedures needed to grant Autonomous Trade Preferences to Moldova for exportation to the E.U. Representatives of E.U. noticed progresses achieved by Moldova in implementing the E.U. recommendations on sanitary, phyto-sanitary and veterinary fields. The set of documents presented by Moldova until now to get the Autonomous Trade Preferences envisage bilateral trade exchanges between Moldova and the E.U., trade exchanges between Moldova and the Baltic republics and CIS, the system of certification of origin of Moldovan exports, including the transfer of origin-related competences from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to the Customs Service, legal framework on certification of origin of exported commodities, mode of authorisation of exports from the Transnistrian region of Moldova, etc.

European Commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner has said in an interview with Rosyskaya Gazeta newspaper that the E.U. did not recognise the independence of Kosovo and supports the territorial integrity of Georgia and Moldova. The E.U. will pay more attention to frozen conflicts at its border because their perpetuation harms the perspective of positive reforms in the envisaged countries.

Republic of Moldova — Romania

Foreign ministers of Moldova and Romania signed on October 20 the agreement on travel regime for citizens and the protocol on cooperation between the Foreign Ministry of Romania and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova. The first document establishes the framework for introduction of a new travel regime for Moldovan citizens in line with commitments assumed by Romania in the European integration process. The Romanian authorities are considering the possibility of opening consular offices in several localities of Moldova (the cities of Balti and Cahul), in a move to facilitate the issuance of visas for Moldovan citizens.

The Chisinau and Tirgoviste City Halls have signed a cooperation protocol, pledging to create a favourable framework for elaboration of bilateral projects on sustained development of cities, to continue and diversify the relations between the two administrations, to outline priorities and opportunities of administrative partnership. Municipal administrations will stimulate relations between cultural and artistic institutions.

The October 21–22 Moldovan wine festival in Bucharest was a success, contributing to promotion of original products on Romanian market. According to data of the MoldovaVin Agency, Moldova exported wines worth about 25 million dollars to Romania in 2006 (compared with 600,000 dollars in 2005). A specialised market of Moldovan companies opens in Bucharest and new trade networks for “Moldova” wines will be created in different regions of Romania.

Republic of Moldova — Russian Federation

First Deputy Premier Zinaida Greceanii has led a Moldovan delegation participating in a Moscow exhibition dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Greceanii had a series of meetings with Russian officials, while talks focussed on agenda of the future sitting of the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental commission for commercial-economic cooperation. Greceanii met with Gennady Onishchenko, head of the phyto-sanitary service Rospotrebnadzor, and discussed the interdiction against Moldovan wines, agreeing to launch the activity of expert groups from the two countries. Greceanii and the deputy chairman of the Russian giant Gazprom, Alexander Ryazanov, have discussed the payment of debts of Moldova-Gaz enterprise and the perspective of signing a long-term agreement on natural gas deliveries.

Moldovan and Russian ministers of finance have signed an agreement on restructuring of foreign debt, under conditions of the Paris Club creditors.

Moldova in the world

The British mass media continues to tackle the problem of Moldovan migrants, with BBC agency and Telegraph daily estimating that Moldovan citizens ranked the 1st place in the top of illegal immigrants in Slovakia. The London government is increasingly concerned with the growing inflow of emigrants from East Europe on the British labour market, a phenomenon capable to grow after Romania and Bulgaria join the E.U. Alarmed as well as with the high number of applications from Moldovans willing to regain the Romanian citizenship, the British authorities have decided to introduce restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarians workers who will want to work in the United Kingdom.

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