Politics
Moldova’s relations with Romania and Ukraine in post-Voronin era
Reading Time: 5 minutesExcerpt from the radio program “Moldovan Foreign Policy Debates” broadcasted on Radio Vocea Basarabiei
The prospective for normalization of the Republic of Moldova’s relations with Romania and Ukraine
*Excerpt from the radio program “Moldovan Foreign Policy Debates” broadcasted on Radio Vocea Basarabiei, on August 23, and produced by the Foreign Policy Association (APE) in collaboration with Imedia News and Analysis Agency and with the assistance of the German Foundation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). The broadcast is aired on Radio Vocea Basarabiei every Sunday.
Corneliu RUSNAC, journalist Imedia: Recently, the communist authorities have tried to come closer to Russia, promoting at the same time as bad as possible relations with Romania. However, these last days the head of the Romanian diplomacy Cristian Diaconescu expressed his confidence that Romania and the Republic of Moldova will finalize the bilateral agreements after a new government is designated in Chisinau. The communist authorities have accused Bucharest before for refusing to sign these agreements, meaning the fundamental political treaty and the one regarding the state border. How should these declarations of the Mr. Minister Diaconescu be interpreted? Is this a signal for the new majority in Chisinau?
Oleg SEREBRIAN, first vice-president of the Democrat Party from Moldova, Member of Parliament: It is, no doubt a signal. It is a positive signal. It is good for Bucharest to give new signals to Chisinau. There have been voices that vehemently opposed any discussions about the fundamental bilateral treaty, considering it an old fashioned practice. Yes, it is to some extent true, these fundamental bilateral treaties are no more of that much contemporaneousness, they were up-to-date somewhat after the end of the second world war and have made a comeback in the 90’s, thus together with the series of independence declaration sins in the post-communist space. But, taking into account the circumstances, I believe it is not an insurmountable impediment in the relation between Chisinau and Bucharest. It matters a lot what we put into this treaty, which ultimately, frankly speaking, is to a large extent a formality – Romania has recognized the independence of the Republic of Moldova –, as very many lawyers from Bucharest recognize, this border treaty comes only to confirm certain things, in that Romania has anyway recognized the borders of the Republic of Moldova and, the Republic of Moldova being the by right successor of the USSR, there is an identical treaty with the USSR.
Therefore, there can be no room for further interpretations. Neither should we leave any space for interpretation; I think we should do all we can so that there is no place for suspicions nowhere in future relations between Bucharest and Chisinau. We want Bucharest to be a partner, we need the support of Romania, and we need the relations between these two countries to be as good as possible, because we do not have that many friends and potential allies within the EU, diplomats that would know well the situation in the Republic of Moldova. From our point of view, we will make everything possible so that relations with Bucharest and Kiev to become normal, with Kiev it might be even more difficult given some circumstances, but I think that with Bucharest, to a large extent, these tensions were tensions of characters, if you wish, generated by certain temperaments and characters of some politicians and had no real substance, and any real reason, they were mostly artificial. I consider and the colleagues from the coalition have declared this repeatedly that among the first gestures undertaken by the Alliance for European Integration will be canceling those stupid restrictions to circulation that have been imposed by the communist regime in April – the visa regime, to have invitations etc. We believe that the treaty about the border traffic needs to be signed urgently, in order to facilitate al least to some extent the possibility for a part of Moldovan citizens to cross the Romanian border. We also believe that both Bucharest and Bruxelles will be more flexible in what regards the visa regime between the Republic of Moldova and Romania, not in the sense of visa exoneration for Moldovan citizens to go to Romania, but in the sense of facilitation of visa receiving process for Moldovan citizens wanting to go to Romania.
Iurie LEANCĂ, Liberal Democrat Party of Moldova, Member of Parliament: I also think that the declaration of the Romanian Foreign Minster, Mr. Diaconescu, is a welcomed one, which once again proves that in the moment when in Chisinau and in Bucharest is a political will to normalize the relations and to quickly overcome the problems that were, in my opinion, mostly of an absolutely subjective character and totally artificial, thus, from the moment there is such a political willingness it will be very simple to overcome all these problems. The respective document to which Mr. Minister made reference have more of a symbolic character and their eventual signing I believe, as Mr. Serebrian said, will eliminate all eventual suspicions from the part of certain circles within the Republic of Moldova and eventually from outside the republic of Moldova. And then, I think it is for the better of both Chisinau and Bucharest not to leave room for such possible interpretations by our partners or less by the friends of both our country and those of Romania.
In the Republic of Moldova and in Romania there are much more problems, which if resolved would indeed change the situation for the better, life, comfort of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, and respectively of those from Romania and I believe that it is this kind of subjects that both governments from Chisinau and Bucharest should immediately concentrate on. I am quite optimistic in this sense; I am convinced that Bucharest will react positively to the availability that the coalition has already displayed. I am absolutely convinced that we will be able to overcome these problems quite rapidly and the benefit will be, again, in the interest first of all of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. I am sure that this is going to change the image of the Republic of Moldova both regionally and in the European space, because the decisions which Mr. Serebrian made reference to, those from April, by which the citizens of Romania were put into the same situation as the ones from Sudan, Somalia etc., countries that bear a tremendous risk from the security perspective etc., do you realize what an anomaly?
Thus, I am sufficiently optimistic in this sense, just like in our relation with Kiev. From what I understand, the recent decision of the Kiev government is, as I have mentioned before, a discriminatory act, but, at the same time, it represents a reaction to the lack of any attitude from the side of Chisinau, a lack of any effort to engage Kiev. Thus, we are much more interested, I am convinced, than Bucharest or Kiev to have a very good relation, a very pragmatic one both economically and politically with both capitals, because they head us in territory size, economic, political and military potential. They, in turn, have many more neighbors, whereas we only have two neighbors and therefore we are obliged to have good relations with these two neighbors. And then it was and still is the duty of Chisinau to be the initiator of some actions on bilateral level. But, let us not forget, in the year 1997, if I am not mistaken, we had from my point of view a very positive example of trilateral cooperation. I would say it might be the case to come back to these kinds of practices, because the benefit would be again first of all for the Republic of Moldova. And then it is absolutely natural from the moment a new government is in place in Chisinau, the relations with the neighbors should be a priority, we should get rid of problems, of this artificial, subjective context, and to orient ourselves on real problems.
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
Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, pay an official visit to Brussels, between September 27-28, being invited by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.
Today, Prime Minister had a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The Moldovan PM thanked the senior European official for the support of the institution in strengthening democratic processes, reforming the judiciary and state institutions, economic recovery and job creation, as well as increasing citizens’ welfare. Natalia Gavrilita expressed her confidence that the current visit laid the foundations for boosting relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, so that, in the next period, it would be possible to advance high-level dialogues on security, justice and energy. Officials also exchanged views on priorities for the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in December.
“The EU is open to continue to support the Republic of Moldova and the ambitious reform agenda it proposes. Moldova is an important and priority partner for us,” said Charles Michel.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita also met with Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, expressing her gratitude for the support received through the OMNIBUS macro-financial assistance program. The two officials discussed the need to advance the recovery of money from bank fraud, to strengthen sustainable mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, and to standardize the customs and taxes as one of the main conditions for deepening cooperation with the EU in this field.
Additionally, Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the Deep Free Trade Agreement, noting that the Government’s policies are aimed at developing an economic model aligned with the European economic model, focused on digitalization, energy efficiency and the green economy.
A common press release of the Moldovan Prime Minister with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, took place today, where the agenda of Moldova’s reforms and the main priorities to focus on in the coming months were presented: judiciary reform; fighting COVID-19 pandemic; promoting economic recovery and conditions for growth and job creation; strengthening state institutions and resilience of the country.
“I am here to relaunch the dialogue between my country and the European Union. Our partnership is strong, but I believe there is room for even deeper cooperation and stronger political, economic and sectoral ties. I am convinced that this partnership is the key to the prosperity of our country and I hope that we will continue to strengthen cooperation.”
The Moldovan delegation met Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. Tomorrow, there are scheduled common meetings with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport and Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.
Prime Minister will also attend a public event, along with Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.
Photo: gov.md
Politics
Promo-LEX about Maia Sandu’s UN speech: The president must insist on appointing a rapporteur to monitor the situation of human rights in Transnistria
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to New York, USA, between September 21-22. There, she participates in the work of the United Nations General Assembly. According to a press release of the President’s Office, the official will deliver a speech at the tribune of the United Nations.
In this context, the Promo-LEX Association suggested the president to request the appointment of a special rapporteur in order to monitor the situation of human rights in the Transnistrian region. According to Promo-LEX, the responsibility for human rights violations in the Transnistrian region arises as a result of the Russian Federation’s military, economic and political control over the Tiraspol regime.
“We consider it imperative to insist on the observance of the international commitments assumed by the Russian Federation regarding the withdrawal of the armed forces and ammunition from the territory of the country,” the representatives of Promo-LEX stated. They consider the speech before the UN an opportunity “to demand the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Russian Federation with reference to this territory which is in its full control.”
“It is important to remember about the numerous cases of murder, torture, ill-treatment, forced enlistment in illegal military structures, the application of pseudo-justice in the Transnistrian region, all carried out under the tacit agreement of the Russian Federation. These findings stem from dozens of rulings and decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in the region.”
The association representatives expressed their hope that the president of the country would give priority to issues related to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and would call on relevant international actors to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental human rights and freedoms throughout Moldova.
They asked Maia Sandu to insist on the observance of the obligation to evacuate the ammunition and the military units of the Russian Federation from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to publicly support the need for the Russian Federation to implement the ECtHR rulings on human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and to request the appointment of an UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.
**
The Promo-LEX Association concluded that 14 out of 25 actions planned within the National Action Plan for the years 2018–2022 concerning respecting human rights in Transnistria were not carried out by the responsible authorities.
The association expressed its concern and mentioned that there are a large number of delays in the planned results. “There is a lack of communication and coordination between the designated institutions, which do not yet have a common vision of interaction for the implementation of the plan.”
Promo-LEX requested the Government of the Republic of Moldova to re-assess the reported activities and to take urgent measures, “which would exclude superficial implementation of future activities and increase the level of accountability of the authorities.”
Photo: peacekeeping.un.org
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