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Foreign Affairs on October 1–31, 2010

European integration

In October, in framework of political dialogue between Moldova and European Union, a number of significant events for the future of Moldova-EU relations occurred. Among those it’s worth mentioning the publication of the European Parliament Resolution on Moldova and European Council Conclusions on Moldova. More than positive, both documents welcomed the achievements of Moldovan authorities during the last year in strengthening democracy and structural reforms, despite the existing political instability and a number of outstanding issues, but which were mentioned in previous resolutions of the European bodies — police impunity, corruption of judicial authorities, improving the business environment, etc. In its conclusions, the European Council announces the start of preparations for launching negotiations on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, as well as preparation of the Action Plan for liberalization of visa regime.

The main events within Moldova-EU political dialogue
On October 8, 2010 — the 11th meeting of the EU-Moldova Cooperation Council and the EU-Moldova High Level Political Dialogue within the Committee on Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The meeting examined, on the one hand, the domestic developments in Moldova during the last year regarding the implementation of reforms in all areas of activity covered by the EU-Moldova Action Plan, and, on the other hand, the developments of the Republic of Moldova regarding its European agenda concerning the negotiation on the Association Agreement, preparation to negotiate the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, the visa liberalization dialogue, taking over the presidency in Energy Community Treaty and TRACECA.

On October 11 to 12, 2010 — visit to Moldova of the delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament visited Moldova

The delegation paid a visit to assess the situation in Moldova before the early parliamentary elections. During the visit, delegation members met with international officials, ambassadors of EU countries, Moldovan officials, chairpersons of political parties, civil society representatives and journalists. The delegation also visited Tiraspol and met with Igor Smirnov and Vladimir Yastrebchak, with whom they discussed the resumption of official negotiations and the agreement on Transnistria.

On October 13–14, 2010 — the fourth round of negotiations on EU-Moldova Association Agreement

During negotiations, the EU and the Republic of Moldova parties have worked in three working groups: 1) “Reform and Political Dialogue, Cooperation in Foreign and Security Policy”, within which the negotiations on Regional Stability and International Criminal Court were completed, which allowed the completion of negotiations on this chapter; 2) “Justice, Freedom and Security”, within which the negotiations on personal data protection, cooperation in the field of migration, asylum, border management and combating terrorism were completed; 3) “Economic, Financial and Sectorial Cooperation”, within which 10 of 21 chapters of negotiations on public finance management, industrial cooperation and entrepreneurship, public health and economic dialogue have been provisionally closed.

On October 21, 2010 — Resolution of the European Parliament (EP) on the reforms and developments in Moldova

In the Resolution on Moldova, EP welcomes the progress made by Moldova in the past year in strengthening democratic institutions, observance of the rule of law and human rights and urges the EU Council to invite the Commission to start developing an action plan for visa liberalization. However, the European Parliament stressed the need for Moldova to intensify its efforts towards effective implementation of structural reforms, particularly in the rule of law, combating corruption and business & investments environment, as well as to restore the confidence of population in the state institutions and in judiciary authorities. Also, the democratic forces and ethno-cultural communities were urged to avoid political confrontations. Referring to Transnistrian problem, it was stated that resolving the Transnistrian conflict is an essential element for promoting political stability and economic prosperity in the Republic of Moldova and in the region. European Parliament concluded by stating that EU can help resolve this problem by supporting joint projects of local communities and civil society on both banks of Nistru.

On 25 October 2010 — EU Council Conclusions on the Republic of Moldova

Conclusions on Moldova of the General Affairs & External Relations Council (GAERC) mention that the Council: — recognizes the “very positive dynamic” in the Moldova-EU dialogue and appreciates Moldova’s active contribution made in this regard. They also welcome Moldova’s achievements in implementing the structural reforms and strengthening democracy, as well as active participation in the Eastern Partnership; — encourages further reforms on strengthening the democracy and the rule of law, improving the investment climate, approximation to the EU in all areas stipulated in the EU-Moldova Action Plan, combating the corruption and organized crime and tackling the poverty issue. Holding the early parliamentary elections of November 28, 2010 in a free and fair manner constitutes an important exercise to strengthen democracy; — the Council is ready to deepen relations with Moldova and to provide technical and financial assistance needed to support reforms, in addition to the assistance already provided in the form of high-level advise to the Government and macro-financial assistance amounting to 90 million euro as a grant; — it invites the European Commission to develop guidelines for the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, to be negotiated as integral part of the Association Agreement. Negotiations will begin as soon as the necessary conditions are met; — it invites the European Commission to prepare a draft Action Plan for a liberalized visa regime. Effective implementation of the Readmission Agreement will remain important in this context; — it welcomes the constructive political commitment of the Republic of Moldova in its efforts related to the Transnistrian conflict settlement and urges the soonest resumption of negotiations in the official negotiations in the “5+2” format.

On October 26, 2010 — the third Meeting of the Moldova-EU Mobility Partnership

The meeting examined the results achieved within the Moldova-EU Mobility Partnership during 2010 in framework of the seven areas of activity (strengthening relations with Diaspora; promoting return and reintegration of Moldovan migrants; institutional capacity building in migration management; investment of remittances; border management and document security; social protection of migrants; cooperation in fighting against illegal migration and human trafficking) and considered the possibilities of launching new initiatives in the framework of the Stockholm Program[1].

Bilateral relations

Republic of Moldova — Russian Federation

Despite diplomatic efforts, the Moldovan-Russian relations remain far from being very good. On October 7–8, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Popov, paid a working visit to Moscow, during which he addressed with his counterparts a range of vulnerable issues for Moldovan-Russian relations: trade and economic cooperation, settlement of Transnistrian conflict and the situation of Moldovan migrants on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry press release, the visit’s result was a satisfactory one. However, in October several Russian officials, including the Chief of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, made declarations stating about the lack of effective power in Chisinau and inability of Moldovan authorities to resolve the issue of Moldovan wines and Transnistrian problem.

Republic of Moldova — Romania

Moldova continues to strengthen its relations with Romania. On October 8, the Consulate General of the Republic of Moldova in Iasi was inaugurated. At the same time, after Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, suggested during her visit to Bucharest on October 11–12 that signing a border treaty between Moldova and Romania is a step towards resolving the Transnistrian conflict, on October 17, Traian Basescu, President of Romania, made a statement whereby he did not rule out signing a border treaty with Moldova. According to the Romanian President, signing the treaty shall be made to support the Alliance for European Integration and against the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, which accused Romania several times of delaying the signing of border treaty due to territorial claims against the Republic of Moldova.

  1. ↑ The Stockholm Program is an EU agreement on EU’s security policies, approved on December 2009, and provides for the large-scale extension of the collection and procession of border crossing data and compiling them at European level.
February 15–28, 2010 November 15–30, 2010