Foreign Affairs on February 1–16, 2007

Republic of Moldova — Council of Europe

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has sentenced Moldova in two cases for violation of the right to a fair trial and protection of property.

The Strasbourg-based Court has obliged Moldova in the first case to pay 600 euros to Valeriu Avramenko in costs and expenses and the ECHR will establish later the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages. The applicant bought shares worth 34,000 euros in a state-owned enterprise at an auction held in May 1998. The Ministry of Finance was told to repay approximately 13,000 euros after the auction was annulled. Avramenko demanded an amount equivalent to the one paid for shares, but his application was turned down. This way, the right of the applicant to a fair trial and the right to protection of property were violated, according to the ECHR.

The ECHR has obliged Moldova in the second case to pay a pecuniary damage in the amount of 28,333 euros and another 2,000 euros in non-pecuniary damage to the society Venera-Nord-Vest Borta AG. Venera-Nord-Vest Borta AG has lodged an application with the ECHR as the Supreme Court of Justice of Moldova had violated its rights by quashing a judgment in its favour, at the appeal of prosecutor-general, and passed a decision to reject the claims of the plaintiff.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe held on February 13–14 the first meeting planned for 2007 for the supervision of the execution of ECHR judgments. The meeting also examined the non-execution of the judgment on Ilascu case and the answer of Moldova and Russia to the 4th Interim Resolution on this case.

Republic of Moldova — European Union

The European commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, was set to visit Chisinau in early February. However, her visit was cancelled, with the European Commission Delegation saying that the European official was feeling bad. The visit of Ferrero-Waldner to Chisinau should follow a meeting that she has recently had with Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan in Brussels. It is worth to note that Mr. Stratan has told the meeting that the gaining of the Autonomous Trade Preferences (ATP) and the negotiation of the visa facilitation and readmission agreements are the priorities of Moldova in the dialogue with the E.U.

According to Octavian Calmic, chief of the directorate general for trade policies of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), Moldova is expecting a draft decision by the European Commission on awarding of ATP by late February 2007. Further, the draft shall be coordinated with all E.U. member states in 6–7 months. So, Moldova hopes to obtain the ATP in the second half of 2007. Meantime, Chisinau will have to work more in order to enhance the credibility of the goods origin certification system, to improve the customs management and the auditing process at exporting enterprises. These are the main recommendations by a group of experts of the European Commission who have recently visited Chisinau to attend a meeting of the Moldova-E.U. Cooperation Subcommittee for Economy, Finance and Statistics.

As regards the signing of visa facilitation and readmission agreements, Brussels hosted the first round of negotiations in this respect on February 9, 2006. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, the sides did not identify differences of principle on the draft readmission agreement, while the details that must be specified have rather a technical nature. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has said in connection with the draft visa facilitation agreement that the Moldovan side argued its demand for E.U. visa issuance facilities and European officials will “consult this issue accordingly to internal E.U. procedures.” The Foreign Ministry assured that there are no reasons to describe the first round of negotiations as a failure, the way some media outlets have reported.

Hungarian Kalman Mizsei was appointed as E.U. special representative to Moldova, as the mandate of his predecessor Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged is over.

Kalman Mizsei has served as chief investment officer for Central and Eastern Europe with American International Group; chairman of the Hungarian Export Import Bank and of the Hungarian Export Credit Insurance Ltd.; vice president for Economic Programmes of the Institute for EastWest Studies; deputy director of the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Mizsei has also acted as a senior advisor to governments of the region on their economic transition and reform, as well as on such issues as privatisation, debit relief governance, banking and bankruptcy reform. Before being appointed as E.U. special representative to Moldova, Mizsei acted between 2001 and 2006 as assistant secretary-general of the U.N. and director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Republic of Moldova — Romania

Romanian President Traian Basescu stated to Pro TV Romania on February 4 that 800,000 Moldovan citizens seek Romanian citizenship and an assessment by Romanian authorities show that this figure could reach 1.5 million persons by the end of 2007. In the context, Basescu said that Romania would make a big problem to Europeans, if it awarded the Romanian citizenship to all applicants. For this reason, the Romanian president continued, Moldova should receive a European perspective like the Western Balkans. We recall that the Romanian president expressed this desire in the E.U. Parliament on January 31, 2007. Assuring the European parliamentarians that Moldovans subscribe to European values and, therefore, a European perspective must be considered for them, Basescu added that his country agrees that “the constitutional treaty and the institutional reform are the No.1 priorities of the E.U.”

Romanian Minister of Administration and Interior Affairs Vasile Blaga recommended to the E.U. Justice and Home Affairs Council at a February 15 meeting that Romania coordinate the joint centre of E.U. member states, which will open in Chisinau to issue E.U. visas. The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration replied that “it is strange that Romanian authorities did not condescend to consult Moldova’s authorities, all the more the answer was negative, given the fact that Moldovan authorities are efficiently cooperating with Hungarian authorities starting August 2006 to open the visa issuance centre in Chisinau. The logic of launching such proposals with only one month before the inauguration of the centre is unclear.”

According to the February 15 issue 79 of the Newsletter of the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior Affairs (MAIA), European Commission Deputy President Franco Frattini has welcomed Romania’s desire to participate in the opening of this centre and, following an agreement of principle, Romania will be able to start the preliminary procedures needed to create this centre either in direct coordination of Romania or in a formula of cooperation with other interested member states . According to the February 16 issue 80 of the Newsletter of the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior Affairs, the Strategic Committee on Immigration, Borders and Asylum will open talks on February 26 regarding concrete actions that will be taken to open the common European visa issuance centre in Chisinau .

Republic of Moldova — Ukraine

The former foreign minister of Ukraine, Boris Tarasyuk, has stated that the Ukrainian Ministry of Transportation and Communication is cooperating with Moscow to press Moldova in the carriage problem. Tarasyuk was quoted by Kommersant as saying that Ukrainian Minister of Transportation Nicolai Rudikovsky “has started deteriorating the relations with our partner from GUAM, Moldova, in Russia’s favour. The so-called capital renovation of the only railway bridge that links Moldova with the whole world via Ukraine has started this way.” According to Tarasyuk, the construction of the railway communication junction Moldova-Ismail-Reni is blocked for the same reason and there were tries to block the flights operated by Air Moldova in Ukraine’s air space. The Ukrainian Ministry of Transportation and Communication described Tarasyuk’s accusations as groundless.

Republic of Moldova — Russian Federation

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin has met with Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow, Vasile Sturza, and raised concern with non-accreditation of some Russian diplomats in Chisinau.

Moldpres news agency has quoted “knowledgeable sources” as saying that Karasin referred to the non-accreditation of Oleg Astakhov, charge d’affairs in the Russian Embassy to Moldova, for approximately half a year. The Russian diplomat, former co-chairman of the Joint Control Commission on behalf of Russia, should exert his second mandate in Chisinau.

As regards the resumption of Moldovan wine exports to the Russian Federation, Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Russian service Rospotrebndzor, said in Moscow on February 6 that they will return “soon” to the Russian market, but they will be “discriminated” at a first stage compared with wines from other states. The official noted that “all Moldovan wines will be separately controlled at the border at a first stage beside the internal control system and they will be able to enter the market later.”

In this context, it should be noted that the Russian Federation did not unblock the Moldovan wine exports though the relief of Moldovan wine deliveries was announced at a meeting between Moldovan and Russian presidents two months ago. Moldpres has quoted Gheorghe Cozub, chairman of the Moldovan Union of Wine Exporters as saying that this state of things is explained by an informal indication to delay the restart of exports as much as possible.

Republic of Moldova — United States

After the E.U. has accepted to negotiate the liberalisation of the visa regime, the United States has also posted desire to begin a dialogue in this respect with Chisinau. The U.S. ambassador to Moldova, Michael Kirby, has proposed the consideration of possibilities to liberalise the visa regime, at a meeting with Moldovan Deputy Premier Andrei Stratan, minister of foreign affairs and European integration.

According to the press service of the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, representatives of U.S. and Moldovan consular services will meet soon to discuss the text of the future visa liberalisation agreement.

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