Important
Moldova Weekly News Digest, 19 March 2017
-On March 17th, Moldova’s President, Igor Dodon, met with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow. The meeting, a follow-up of the one from January 17th, was delayed by almost 4 hours, making Dodon wait for Putin.
First, Dodon thanked the Russian President for the positive solution to the problem of wine exports to Russia. He even brought, presumably as a gift, some wine bottles of Putin’s collection from Cricova cellars, to which the latter was surprised to receive gifts of his own.
Second, the Moldovan President expressed his gratitude for the migration amnesty for Moldovan migrant workers, at the same time asking to introduce a prolonged amnesty after March 20th for other 33 thousand Moldovan citizens with residence penalties. Putin reportedly promised to prolong the amnesty. In this context, another proposed measure was to sign a citizenship agreement on the dual citizenship, so that the Moldovans living in Russia do not give up their citizenship.
To stress his friendly position towards Russia, Dodon condemned and called “demarche” the note sent by the Parliament and Government regarding the abuses Moldovan officials recently faced at the Russian border control.
On the Transnistrian conflict settlement, Dodon told Putin he would plan a meeting with the Transnistrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky until the end of March.
Last, but not least, Dodon proposed to the Russian leader to have a consultation on concluding a new Treaty of “Strategic Partnership” between Moldova and Russia, beside the already existing Friendship and Collaboration Treaty.
–EU Commission report: Moldova needs to continue reforms in rule of law, media freedom, to investigate the banking fraud
On March 13th, the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, together with the High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, presented the new report on the Implementation of the Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova.
The report reads that Moldova has adopted a number of reforms within the frame of the Association Agenda, but needs to continue the efforts in order to improve a series of domains such as rule of law, business environment, media freedom, public administration, public finance management, detention conditions and gender equality.
Progress has been made – this is detailed in today’s report. Further work is needed, and on this path Moldova can count on the European Union, on our common work, for the sake of our citizens. (Federica Mogherini)
The EU Commission welcomes the political stability achieved in 2016 and qualifies it as favorable for further reforms and efforts in undertaking important actions in the Transnistrian conflict settlement and the investigation of the banking frauds from 2014.
–Uninominal electoral system proposed by the Democrats- already draft law registered at the Moldova Parliament, pending review from the Venice Commission
On March 15th, the Parliament speaker, Andrian Candu, announced that his Democratic Party submitted the draft law on introducing the single member constituency system for the Parliamentary elections.
Instead of the current proportional system, the Democrats propose a majoritarian one, where MPs are elected from constituencies of approx. 30000 voters, including some elected by Moldovans living abroad. The deputies would be also liable to dismissal by local referendums during their terms.
The draft law was already registered at the Parliament of Moldova and waits the approval of the Venice Commission (Council of Europe).
A poll conducted by IMAS among the Moldovans living abroad revealed their political preferences.
The politician the most appreciated by the Moldovan diaspora is former Education Minister and Presidential candidate Maia Sandu- 70%. She is followed by Platform DA Andrei Năstase- 42%, Chișinău mayor Dorin Chirtoacă- 34%, ex-PM Iurie Leancă- 31%, PM Pavel Filip- 18%, ex-President Vladimir Voronin- 18%, current President Igor Dodon- 15%, Parliament speaker Andrian Candu- 14%, “Our Party” and Bălți mayor Renato Usatîi- 14%, Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu- 14%. The Democrat leader and oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc enjoys 11% of diaspora’s appreciation.
Out of the 599 respondents, 66% said they appreciated PAS (Action and Solidarity Party)- 66%, European People’s Party of Moldova- 26%, Liberal-Democratic Party- 19%, Liberal Party- 18%, Communists’ Party- 14%, Socialists’ Party- 13%, “Our Party”- 13%, Democratic Party- 12%.
Asked about the possibility of introducing a majoritarian or mixed electoral system for the Parliamentary elections, 72% of the Moldovans said they would agree to a new electoral system, 87% agreed to have deputies elected from those living abroad and 79% favored the idea of withdrawing the mandate during the term. Interestingly, this poll was conducted before the Democrat oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc announced the intention of introducing a new majoritarian electoral system.
–Moldova Agriculture Minister, Eduard Grama, accused of corruption in a land scam, under home arrest for 30 days, Prime-Minister asks President for dismissal
On March 17th, the Buiucani Court of Chișinău issued a arrest warrant of 30 days for Moldova’s Agriculture Minister Eduard Grama. The Minister, accused of passive corruption in a case of land appropriation, will stay under arrest at home for at least 30 days.
His lawyers believe the decision of the court is unfounded and lacks proof.
On the same day, Prime-Minister Pavel Filip sent a letter to President Igor Dodon demanding to dismiss Grama from the position of Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, at the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office. A press-release of the Government mentions that Grama himself asked for his resignation on March 16th.
–Russian Laundromat: Cases of four employees of Moldova National Bank sent to court
On March 10th, the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office announced that the prosecutors finished the investigation and sent to the court the case regarding the involvement of four persons from the leadership of Moldova’s National Bank in the “Russian Laundromat”.
According to the prosecutors, the employees of the National Bank allowed, by bad practice of their service attributions, the laundering of some 22 billion US dollars through Moldinconbank.
Ex-Vice Governor of the National Bank Emma Tăbârță, the Director of Banking Supervision Department Matei Dohotaru, the Director of Regulation and Authorization Department Vladimir Țurcan, and the deputy head of the latter department.
During 2011-2014, the accused persons reportedly admitted or did not undertake actions towards the Moldindconbank, under supervision for one year, which led to the facilitation of suspect transactions of more than 22 billion USD. Moreover, the officials did not undertake any post-factum actions like fines, replacing the bank administrators or withdrawing the banking licence, thus damaging the image of the Republic of Moldova.
If they are found guilty, the four National Bank officials risk up to 6 years of imprisonment, together with the ban to have a public position for up to 10 years.
The scheme revealed by prosecutors show that hundreds of millions of US dollars were transferred from Russian companies, through accounts at Moldindconbank, as guarantees for the Moldovan guarantee persons. The latter, in their turn, were guaranteeing the supposed return of loan from a debtor to an off-shore creditor. The creditor was suing the Moldovan guarantee person in a court in Moldova, asking for the return of the money by allegedly submitting fake contracts. As a result, the guarantee person was forced to make the Russian companies to pay with no guarantee of getting the resources back.
-In February 2017, Gazprom sent a request to the International Commercial Arbitration Court (of Russia) claiming to recover a gas supply debt of $768,5 million US dollars from 2014 belonging to Moldovagaz, reports RIA Novosti, quoting a report of the Russian corporation.
“In February 2017, Gazprom filed with the International Commercial Arbitration Court to Moldovagaz about receiving the debt for the supplied gas in 2014 worth 768,5 million dollars”, cites RIA. The dates of hearings are not indicated.
The cited document mentions that the Arbitration Court previously approved the claims of Gazprom to receive the payments of Moldovagaz’s debts for 2012 and 2013- 830,767 million USD and 562,3 million USD, respectively.
-Russia Deputy Foreign Minister, Grigory Karasin, in Transnistria: 5+2 dialogue should not include political matters.
On March 13th, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Grigory Karasin, paid a visit to the Republic of Moldova and first had a talk with leader of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky.
The two officials talked on matters of Russian-Transnistrian commercial-economic cooperation and humanitarian ties, taking in account the environment in the region. Krasnoselsky and Karasin touched upon the 5+2 dialogue format in the conflict settlement between the constitutional authorities of Moldova and the separatist authorities.
Karasin emphasized that Russia insists on making the 5+2 dialogue more frequent and focusing it on basic needs of Transnistrian people, rather than theoretical questions:
“Russia, as a guarantee state, mediator, intends to reinforce its participation, and we insist that the international 5+2 format should be convened more frequently and that it should discuss, not some temporary, theoretical messages, but fully down-to-earth needs of the Pridnestrovian people, Pridnestrovian structure. All of this is doable, there are no extraordinary requests”, declared the diplomat.
Krasnoselsky only had to confirm that his administration is a supporter of any format, be it 1+1 or 5+2, not only for dialogue, but for practical solutions to concrete questions on both sides- Moldovan one and Transnistrian one.
Asked by a journalist about the problem of the opening of joint Moldo-Ukrainian checkpoint at Cuciurgan, Karasin responded that the understandable discontent attitude of Transnistrian authorities can be discussed during the 5+2 dialogue together with Ukraine. He expressed hope that a new round of 5+2 discussions would be soon organized. The Russian diplomat, together with the Transnistrian leader, think that there are no impediments to that, since the Moldovan President Igor Nikolaevich (Dodon) also emphasized on solving practical questions.
-Chișinău-Tiraspol talks on latin script schools, farmer lands, transportation, petrol import, penal cases ended with no results.
On March 14th, the political representatives of Moldova’s constitutional authorities and those of the Transnistrian separatist administration (Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic- PMR) had a formal discussion on the bilateral issues at the OSCE Mission Office in Chișinău.
Both negotiators, Tiraspol’s Vitaly Ignatiev and Chișinău’s George Bălan, separately that the parties achieved little to no agreement in domains like transportation, petrol imports and border control. Moreover, the two officials seemed to speak about two different discussions and different topics.
Tiraspol’s negotiations
As Tiraspol’s foreign ministry reports, the discussions were not so successful. According to Transnistria’s negotiator Vitaly Ignatiev, the Moldovan party did not offer a clear response to the issue of the petrol products imports in the north of the region. Ignatiev claimed that the Moldovan negotiator rejected any talks about solving the so-called politically motivated penal cases, thus derailing from the Berlin Protocol.
Furthermore, the Transnistrian official stressed that PMR is against the opening of the joint Moldo-Ukrainian checkpoint at Cuciurgan-Pervomaiskoe, because it would limit the free movement of Transnistrian people and exports. He even brought up the number of 38 million USD as the preliminary costs of instituting the “three-times” control, to which the Moldovan negotiator allegedly did not even pay attention. Ignatiev added that he hopes to talk about the mentioned issues during the 5+2 negotiations.
Chișinău’s negotiators
In his turn, Moldova’s Reintegration Minister, George Bălan, mentioned some other almost totally different subjects during his briefing. To his disappointment, issues like the preservation and support of the Latin script schools, the access of farmers to their lands in Dubăsari district, the registration of Transnistrian cars with Moldovan number plates and others were not taken seriously by Tiraspol.
In regard to the problem of petrol imports in Transnistria, Bălan told journalists that the issue, rather technical, is to be discussed between the joint experts groups and not between the political negotiators. Asked about the politically motivated cases, Bălan declared that there is no such thing in the relations between the two banks of Nistru, stressing out the lack of this kind of terminology in the bilateral agreements and protocols.
Bălan tried to convince that the Cuciurgan-Pervomaiskoe joint checkpoint will not limit the movement of anyone but criminals, and anything but counterfeit. “The checkpoint is a matter of bilateral relations between the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine and is not directed against anyone”, he added.
-On March 9th, the Economy Ministry of Moldova announced about its decision to correct the growth forecast for 2017.
The previous 3,5%-6,5% forecast for GDP growth was replaced by one of 4,5%. The Ministry expects an annual growth rate of 3,5%-4,5% during 2017-2020, reportedly determined by the improvement of the world economic context, the intense promotion of exports, development and support of the private sector, continuation of structural reforms.
The Economy Ministry forecasts a 6,5% inflation rate at the end of the year, 5,5% for 2018 and 5% for 2019 and 2020 respectively.
-On 15 March 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics of Moldova published the final data regarding the Gross Domestic Product in 2016.
The data reveal that the total Gross Domestic Product in 2016 amounted 133,476 billion lei, or 6,79 billion US dollars, 4,1% more than in 2015.
Positive contributions to the GDP were those of the Agriculture (+2,2%), Commerce and Car Repair (+0,9%), Industry, Transportation, Information and Scientific and technical activities (+0,3% each). The gross added value increased in total by 4,1%, while the volume of taxes on products grew by 3,1%. A negative impact was brought by the +0,2% decrease in constructions, -0,1% in public spending and 0,7% in other activities.
The 4,1% GDP growth in 2016 compared to 2015 should be taken in the context of the 2014 and 2015 economic crises, caused by the banking frauds that left Moldova without approximately one eighth of its GDP.
Important
#WorldForUkraine – a map that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression
The international community and volunteers from all over te world have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against the Russian aggression. In a digital world – it is an interactive map of public support of Ukrainians under the hashtag #WorldForUkraine – rallies, flash mobs, protests around the world. In the physical dimension – it is your opportunity to take to the streets and declare: “No to Putin’s aggression, no to war.”
„Today, along with the political and military support, emotional connection with the civilized world and truthful information are extremely important for Ukraine. The power to do it is in your hands. Join the #WorldForUkraine project and contribute to the victorious battle against the bloodshed inflicted on Ukraine by the aggression of the Russian Federation”, says the „about the project” section of the platform.
Go to the streets — Tell people — Connect and Unite — Become POWERFUL
Volunteers have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression. In digital world – it is an INTERACTIVE MAP of public support of Ukrainians worldforukraine.net under the hashtag #WorldForUkraine – rallies, flash mobs, protests around the world. In the physical dimension – it is your opportunity to take to the streets and declare: “No to Putin’s aggression, no to war.” There you may find information about past and future rallies in your city in support of Ukraine. This is a permanent platform for Ukrainian diaspora and people all over the world concerned about the situation in Ukraine.
So here’s a couple of things you could do yourself to help:
* if there is a political rally in your city, then participate in it and write about it on social media with geolocation and the hashtag #WorldForUkraine
* if there are no rallies nearby, organize one in support of Ukraine yourself, write about it on social media with geolocation adding the hashtag #WorldForUkraine
The map will add information about gathering by #WorldForUkraine AUTOMATICALLY
Your voice now stronger THAN ever
All rallies are already here: https://worldforukraine.net
Important
How is Moldova managing the big influx of Ukrainian refugees? The authorities’ plan, explained
From 24th to 28th of February, 71 359 Ukrainian citizens entered the territory of Republic of Moldova. 33 173 of them left the country. As of this moment, there are 38 186 Ukrainian citizens in Moldova, who have arrived over the past 100 hours.
The Moldovan people and authorities have organized themselves quickly from the first day of war between Russia and Ukraine. However, in the event of a prolonged armed conflict and a continuous influx of Ukrainian refugees, the efforts and donations need to be efficiently managed. Thus, we inquired about Moldova’s long-term plan and the state’s capacity to receive, host, and treat a bigger number of refugees.
On February 26th, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Moldova approved the Regulation of organization and functioning of the temporary Placement Center for refugees and the staffing and expenditure rules. According to the Regulation, the Centers will have the capacity of temporary hosting and feeding at least 20 persons, for a maximum of 3 months, with the possibility of extending this period. The Centers will also offer legal, social, psychological, and primary medical consultations to the refugees. The Center’s activity will be financed from budget allocations, under Article 19 of Provision no. 1 of the Exceptional Situations Commission from February 24th, 2022, and from other sources of funding that do not contravene applicable law.
The Ministry of Inner Affairs and the Government of Moldova facilitated the organization of the volunteers’ group “Moldova for Peace”. Its purpose is to receive, offer assistance and accommodation to the Ukrainian refugees. The group is still working on creating a structure, registering and contacting volunteers, etc. It does not activate under a legal umbrella.
Lilia Nenescu, one of the “Moldova for Peace” volunteers, said that the group consists of over 20 people. Other 1700 registered to volunteer by filling in this form, which is still available. The group consists of several departments:
The volunteers’ department. Its members act as fixers: they’re responsible for connecting the people in need of assistance with the appropriate department. Some of the volunteers are located in the customs points. “The Ministry of Inner Affairs sends us every day the list of the customs points where our assistance is needed, and we mobilize the volunteers”, says Lilia Nenescu.
The Goods Department manages all the goods donated by the Moldavian citizens. The donations are separated into categories: non-perishable foods and non-food supplies. The volunteers of this department sort the goods into packages to be distributed.
The Government intends to collect all the donations in four locations. The National Agency for Food Safety and the National Agency for Public Health will ensure mechanisms to confirm that all the deposited goods comply with safety and quality regulations.
The Service Department operates in 4 directions and needs the volunteer involvement of specialists in psychology, legal assistance (the majority of the refugees only have Ukrainian ID and birth certificates of their children); medical assistance; translation (a part of the refugees are not Ukrainian citizens).
According to Elena Mudrîi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, so far there is no data about the number of Covid-19 positive refugees. She only mentioned two cases that needed outpatient medical assistance: a pregnant woman and the mother of a 4-day-old child.
The Accommodation Department. The volunteers are waiting for the centralized and updated information from the Ministry of Labor about the institutions offering accommodation, besides the houses offered by individuals.
The Transport Department consists of drivers organized in groups. They receive notifications about the number of people who need transportation from the customs points to the asylum centers for refugees.
The municipal authorities of Chișinău announced that the Ukrainian children refugees from the capital city will be enrolled in educational institutions. The authorities also intend to create Day-Care Centers for children, where they will be engaged in educational activities and will receive psychological assistance. Besides, the refugees from the municipal temporary accommodation centers receive individual and group counseling.
In addition to this effort, a group of volunteers consisting of Ana Gurău, Ana Popapa, and Andrei Lutenco developed, with the help of Cristian Coșneanu, the UArefugees platform, synchronized with the responses from this form. On the first day, 943 people offered their help using the form, and 110 people asked for help. According to Anna Gurău, the volunteers communicate with the Government in order to update the platform with the missing data.
Translation from Romanian by Natalia Graur
A new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred in the headlines of worldwide football news yesterday. The Football Club Sheriff Tiraspol claimed a win with the score 2-1 against Real Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. That made Sheriff Tiraspol the leader in Group D of the Champions League, including the football club in the groups of the most important European interclub competition for the first time ever.
International media outlets called it a miracle, a shock and a historic event, while strongly emphasizing the origin of the team and the existing political conflict between the two banks of the Dniester. “Football club from a pro-Russian separatist enclave in Moldova pulls off one of the greatest upsets in Champions League history,” claimed the news portals. “Sheriff crushed Real!” they said.
Moldovans made a big fuss out of it on social media, splitting into two groups: those who praised the team and the Republic of Moldova for making history and those who declared that the football club and their merits belong to Transnistria – a problematic breakaway region that claims to be a separate country.
Both groups are right and not right at the same time, as there is a bunch of ethical, political, social and practical matters that need to be considered.
Is it Moldova?
First of all, every Moldovan either from the right or left bank of Dniester (Transnistria) is free to identify himself with this achievement or not to do so, said Vitalie Spranceana, a sociologist, blogger, journalist and urban activist. According to him, boycotting the football club for being a separatist team is wrong.
At the same time, “it’s an illusion to think that territory matters when it comes to football clubs,” Spranceana claimed. “Big teams, the ones included in the Champions League, have long lost their connection both with the countries in which they operate, and with the cities in which they appeared and to which they linked their history. […] In the age of globalized commercial football, teams, including the so-called local ones, are nothing more than global traveling commercial circuses, incidentally linked to cities, but more closely linked to all sorts of dirty, semi-dirty and cleaner cash flows.”
What is more important in this case is the consistency, not so much of citizens, as of politicians from the government who have “no right to celebrate the success of separatism,” as they represent “the national interests, not the personal or collective pleasures of certain segments of the population,” believes the political expert Dionis Cenusa. The victory of FC Sheriff encourages Transnistrian separatism, which receives validation now, he also stated.
“I don’t know how it happens that the “proud Moldovans who chose democracy”, in their enthusiasm for Sheriff Tiraspol’s victory over Real Madrid, forget the need for total and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria!” declared the journalist Vitalie Ciobanu.
Nowadays, FC Sheriff Tiraspol has no other choice than to represent Moldova internationally. For many years, the team used the Moldovan Football Federation in order to be able to participate in championships, including international ones. That is because the region remains unrecognised by the international community. However, the club’s victory is presented as that of Transnistria within the region, without any reference to the Republic of Moldova, its separatist character being applied in this case especially.
Is it a victory?
In fact, FC Sheriff Tiraspol joining the Champions League is a huge image breakthrough for the Transnistrian region, as the journalist Madalin Necsutu claimed. It is the success of the Tiraspol Club oligarchic patrons. From the practical point of view, FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a sports entity that serves its own interests and the interests of its owners, being dependent on the money invested by Tiraspol (but not only) oligarchs.
Here comes the real dilemma: the Transnistrian team, which is generously funded by money received from corruption schemes and money laundering, is waging an unequal fight with the rest of the Moldovan football clubs, the journalist also declared. The Tiraspol team is about to raise 15.6 million euro for reaching the Champions League groups and the amounts increase depending on their future performance. According to Necsutu, these money will go directly on the account of the club, not to the Moldovan Football Federation, creating an even bigger gab between FC Sheriff and other football clubs from Moldova who have much more modest financial possibilities.
“I do not see anything useful for Moldovan football, not a single Moldovan player is part of FC Sheriff Tiraspol. I do not see anything beneficial for the Moldovan Football Federation or any national team.”
Is it only about football?
FC Sheriff Tiraspol, with a total estimated value of 12.8 million euros, is controlled by Victor Gusan and Ilya Kazmala, being part of Sheriff Holding – a company that controls the trade of wholesale, retail food, fuels and medicine by having monopolies on these markets in Transnistria. The holding carries out car trading activities, but also operates in the field of construction and real estate. Gusan’s people also hold all of the main leadership offices in the breakaway region, from Parliament to the Prime Minister’s seat or the Presidency.
The football club is supported by a holding alleged of smuggling, corruption, money laundering and organised crime. Moldovan media outlets published investigations about the signals regarding the Sheriff’s holding involvement in the vote mobilization and remuneration of citizens on the left bank of the Dniester who participated in the snap parliamentary elections this summer and who were eager to vote for the pro-Russian socialist-communist bloc.
Considering the above, there is a great probability that the Republic of Moldova will still be represented by a football club that is not identified as being Moldovan, being funded from obscure money, growing in power and promoting the Transnistrian conflict in the future as well.
Photo: unknown
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