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Transnistrian Conflict on November 22 – December 5, 2005

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Launching of the EU Border Assistance Mission at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border

On 30 November in the Ukrainian town of Odessa, the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and the EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, launched the EU Border Assistance Mission in Moldova and Ukraine. The launch included a launching ceremony and a press conference which were also attended by the Moldovan and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers. The objective of the mission will be to prevent smuggling, traffic and customs fraud at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, including on the Transnistrian segment. The mission will be composed of 69 EU experts in customs and border police, and 50 Moldovan and Ukrainian customs officers. They will travel within mobile teams from one point to another and perform unannounced repeated controls (after the passing of the border) of transports and documents, as well offer advise and training to Moldovan and Ukrainian customs officers. The mission has a two-year mandate and will cost about 6 million euro. The headquarters of the mission will be in Odessa; it will have five field offices. The mission will work in close collaboration with the office of the EU Special Representative for Moldova which will be strengthened with border consultants in Kiev, Chisinau and Odessa.

According to a European Commission communique, on the eve of the launch Javier Solana stated that the mission is a follow up to the request by the Moldovan and Ukrainian presidents which “has shown their strong democratic commitment to European values”, and that the mission will play an important role in the peaceful resolution of the Transnistrian conflict.

Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said during the launching press conference that the mission represents “a clear sign of the EU desire to have closer ties with its neighbour states” and that the mission will lead to “more stability and more possibilities for the settlement of the [Transnistrian] conflict in the future”, according Infotag.

Boris Tarasiuk, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, mentioned that the launch of the EU Mission will lead to a boost of trust not just between Ukraine and Moldova, but also at the level of the entire European community. The Ukrainian official also mentioned that the mission is in line with the settlement proposals of the Ukrainian president Victor Yushcenko to solve the Transnistrian conflict through democratisation of the region.

The Transnistrian authorities were not present at the launch, because, as Minister Tarasiuk said, quoted by Infotag, Transnistria is not a party to the border assistance agreement signed between Ukraine and Moldova, on the one hand, and the EU, on the other. Although the mission is basically aimed at curbing illegal transports from Transnistria, the breakaway authorities have welcomed it saying that the mission will help them dismiss the accusations of smuggling against them and hence the reasons for economic blockades against Transnistria. However, the Transnistrian authorities have shown a number of signs of anxiety related to the launch of the mission, which will affect considerably the external trade of Transnistria. Thus, according to Kommersant.ru, on the eave of the launch, Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov made a visit to Kiev under the pretext of a social event to convince the Ukrainian authorities to provide guarantees that the launch of the international border monitoring will not affect the current status quo. In parallel, the Transnistrian authorities have tried to toughen their position towards Moldova — the Speaker of the local parliament, Grigori Maracuta, stated recently that in the nearest future Transnistria might decide to refuse to participate in the talks with Moldova on the status of the region. At the same time, a Transnistrian parliamentary committee decided to cancel a number of legislative acts related to models of legal relations with Moldova.

It is worth noting that the presence of Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Javier Solana in Ukraine was connected to another important event — the EU-Ukraine Summit, the first one after the “orange revolution” from Ukraine last year. The significant results of the summit, notably EU’s political decision to grant Ukraine the status of a market economy, which will open the way to Ukraine’s accession to the WTO, made British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, also present at the summit, say that the summit has been the most successful ever and that it has upgraded relations between the EU and Ukraine to a qualitatively new level.

The EU-Ukraine Summit has confirmed and encouraged Ukraine’s European aspirations, which makes Ukraine even more of a trustworthy EU partner in the Transnistrian conflict resolution efforts, including the successful deployment of the EU Border Assistance Mission. Ukraine’s merit is already being recognised, in particular due to its proposals to solve the conflict through democratisation. Ukraine’s regional role is becoming even more prominent as, on the day of the EU-Ukraine Summit, the leaders of a number of East European and Black and Baltic Sea region countries participated in the founding forum of the Community of Democratic Choice, an initiative launched by the Ukrainian and Georgian presidents last August to promote democracy and European values in the states of the region.

Elections to Transnistria’s “Supreme Soviet”

According to the official news agency of Transnistria “Olvia-press”, 185 candidates registered for elections to the regional legislative body, the “Supreme Soviet”, scheduled for 11 December. The elections will not be recognised by the Moldovan Government, nor by the international community, and will not be monitored by international observers, not even on behalf of the CIS.

According to Olvia-press, which makes a sociological portrait of candidates, their average age is 47 — which makes the candidates younger than in previous campaigns, and their social status is “typical” of the past campaigns. Representatives of small and medium enterprises top the list (30 of 185), followed by executives of industrial and power sector enterprises (24), representatives of official structures (22) and the “executive” (22, of which 14 represent security structures, in particular the “defence and security ministries”). 38 of the current 43 “deputies” will run for a new mandate.

“Essentially the fight for the places in the Supreme Soviet will be led between two political forces: the executive power, impersonated by the pro-presidential bloc «Respublica» and the «Obnovlenie» movement, which is backed, according to experts, by the «Sherif» firm. The opposition, with small exceptions, has not put forward its candidates”, reads a recent report in the Bender-based “Novaia Gazeta”, one of the few independent newspapers from Transnistria. According to analysts, the candidates from “Obnovlenie” are the favourite ones. These supposedly represent a “new political class”, which, according to a comment by Vitali Andrievski published on Regnum.ru, advocate for radical changes in the political, economic and social life of the Transnistrian region, are pragmatic and realistic, open to the outside world, and more willing to accept a compromise.

In the context of the current discussions regarding the democratisation of the Transnistrian region, the victory of such people in the upcoming elections would favour the emergence of some internal pre-conditions for the modernisation and democratisation of the region. One cannot overlook the fact through that what unites both the exponents of the “old guard” and this “new guard” of Transnistrian political elites is the struggle for the international recognition of Transnistria and the strengthening of its “statehood”.

November 8–21, 2005 December 6–19, 2005