Foreign Affairs on January 17–31, 2011

European integration

Republic of Moldova receives the Visa Liberalization Action Plan

On 24 January 2011, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, paying a working visit to Chisinau, handed to Moldovan Government handed the Action Plan on Visa Liberalization with the European Union. Moldova is the second country in the Eastern Partnership, after Ukraine, which receives such a document. In one of her speeches, the European official stressed that the process of visa regime liberalization is a difficult and requires costly and painful structural reforms. At the same time, Cecilia Malmström also mentioned that a number of EU countries are opposed to opening EU borders after they have experienced a wave of emigrants from Balkan states that have received liberalized visa regimes in 2009. As a result, the progress in liberalizing the visa regime will depend exclusively on the partner country’s achievements in implementing the conditions set out in the action plan. European Commissioner assured Moldovan partners that Commission will provide financial support as well as necessary expertise to accomplish the reform agenda.

Unlike roadmaps on visa liberalization offered to Balkan states, the action plans that were received by the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine are structured in two basic components: 1) harmonizing the legislative framework in the field of justice and home affairs to the EU norms and standards; 2) implementing the actions to meet EU requirements for establishing a visa-free travel regime in EU for Moldovan citizens. The move towards implementing the actions from the second component will be preceded by a thorough assessment of the extent and quality of implementation of the measures included in the first part of the action plan, to be made by the European Commission and the European Council. Before approving the decision on initiating the second component, the Commission will also take into account the developments on the visa-refusal rate, the number of Moldovan citizens repatriated from the EU, the number of Moldovan citizens illegally staying in the EU, etc.

Cecilia Malmström has avoided specifying a deadline for completion of the visa liberalization process, while Moldovan authorities have set a target to achieve the liberalized visa regime by late 2012.

A new European Union Special Representative in Moldova

Former Foreign Minister of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčák was appointed the new EU Special Representative in Moldova, replacing Kalman Mizsei, whose mandate expired on 31st of August 2010. Miroslav Lajčák will represent the EU in negotiations on Transnistrian settlement in 5+2 format.

Bilateral cooperation

Republic of Moldova — Russia

After the Parliament voted the composition of Government and the programme of Government for the next four years, the Russian Ambassador to Moldova, Valery Kuzmin, had a number of meetings with leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, Democratic Party of Moldova and the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova. According to a press releaseRU circulated by the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, these talks focused on boosting bilateral Moldovan-Russian relations to meet new Government targets, but also those of the parliamentary opposition, establishing a strategic partnership based on pragmatic and mutually advantageous principles with the Russian Federation.

Republic of Moldova — Romania

On January 20, 2011, Romanian President Traian Basescu organized the annual meetingRO with the heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Bucharest, where he made an overview of Romania’s diplomatic activities in 2010 and outlined the Romanian foreign policy goals for 2011. Referring to the Republic of Moldova, the Romanian President praised the dynamics, broadening and deepening the Moldovan-Romanian relations that occurred in 2010. Romania in 2011 will continue the policy of solidarity and support for Moldova, in particular insisting on the European level “on the inclusion of the Republic of Moldova in the group of Balkan countries in the process of EU accession” and providing a clear perspective of European integration.

Republic of Moldova — Ukraine

Political relations between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova continues to stagnate after passing through a serious new attempt back in December 2010, when Ukraine unilaterally changed the pillars of Moldovan-Ukrainian border. However, it seems that economic dialogueRU is less affected by political problems. On January 28, representatives of economic ministries of both countries met in Kiev to negotiate some provisions in the draft Agreement on free trade zone in the CIS. Following negotiations, the parties agreed to reduce the number of exceptions from free trade regime. Thus, the following will be removed from the group of exceptions: ethyl spirits, cognac and vodka, which will allow VAT free export of these products in both countries. At the same time, the Ukrainian side agreed to withdraw from the group of exceptions the animal skins and ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals, preserving the export duty for ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals.

Multilateral Cooperation

Republic of Moldova — Council of Europe

On January 24–28, the ordinary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg, whose agenda included, among other subjects, the hearings on the report on observation of the early parliamentary elections in Moldova (28 November 2010) and the report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

As regards the early parliamentary elections of November 28, the Council of Europe group of observers concluded that the elections met most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments; the elections were administered in a transparent and impartial manner and a diverse field of candidates provided voters with a genuine choice. In order to increase citizens’ confidence in the democratic process in Moldova, the rapporteurs made the following recommendations for the Moldovan authorities:

the newly elected parliament is urged to strengthen its co-operation with the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee in order to further improve the functioning of democratic institutions in Moldova and to pursue rigorous reform;
the leaders of the main political forces should, without waiting the next national elections, engage in constructive and responsible dialogue on the country’s political system, in order to find the broadest agreement on possible amendments to the current constitution. The Assembly would be willing to make a contribution;
to fully implement the recommendations made by the Venice Commission on 4 June 2010, in close co-operation with the Venice Commission and on the basis of broad agreement among the main political parties.

The PACE report on the implementation of the EHCR judgements finds out that major systemic deficiencies which undermine the rule of law and generated numerous applications against Moldova to the ECHR, continue to exist in the Republic of Moldova. These deficiencies are related to:

ill-treatment by law enforcement bodies and lack of effective investigations thereof;
illegal detention and excessive length of detention on remand and in prison;
poor detention condition on remand and in prison;
non-enforcement of the domestic judicial decisions.

PACE urges Moldova to take prompt measures to ensure the enforcement of domestic final judgements, especially those related to social housing cases (Olaru and Others v. Moldova case), to strengthen the efforts for preventing further cases of ill-treatment in police custody and ensure the effective investigations of such abuses. Moldova has also to take supplementary measures to improve the conditions in detention facilities and filling the in procedures concerning arrest and detention on remand. It is essential to be introduced an effective domestic remedy is introduced in response to the ECHR pilot judgment of Olaru and Others v. Moldova.

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