Important
Moldova Weekly News Digest, 12 February 2017
-On February 7th, the President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, made a visit to the European Union institutions and had several meeting with EU officials.
When meeting the EU Council President Donald Tusk, Dodon reportedly told that the Association Agreement between Moldova and the Union, together with the implemented DCFTA would not prove its necessity.
“I reiterated the fact that if, after the results of ordinary or preliminary Parliamentary elections or a referendum, it would be decided to cancel the Association Agreement with the European Union, I as a President would support this initiative”, says Dodon in a Facebook post.
The Moldovan President thinks that the decrease of trust in the European institutions between 2009 and 2016 was caused “by the bad governance, but also the double standards with geopolitical context that the European officials applied to everything happened during these years at Chișinău”. He also proposed to Tusk to reflect on a trilateral format of negotiations on trade between the EU, Moldova and Russia.
Dodon asked the European institutions to offer assistance in the investigation of the banking frauds, because they happened after the signing of the Association Agreement. He suggested that the reforms are largely faked at Chișinău, especially when it comes to the reformation of the justice and prosecutions systems.
-In an open-ed for IPN, Dionis Cenușa writes that the European has to both criticize the government of Moldova and to fight the anti-European propaganda of the Pro-Russian President Igor Dodon. Moreover, the EU would have to push the truth forward, in order to win Moldova:
The truth and real figures are as unpleasant and painful for those who disseminate untruths (President Dodon, Party of Socialists and others) and for those who report half-truths or are accused of pretending to do reforms (ruling parties led by the Democratic Party of Moldova, the mass media controlled by the government, etc.).
-On February 12th, the Moldovan President Igor Dodon had a meeting with the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, in Tehran.
According to the press-release of the Presidency, Dodon and Rouhani shared their opinions on the bilateral relations in sectors like agriculture and energy. The parties reportedly talked about the possibility to open Embassies in both countries.
Dodon later met the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss cooperation in the energy industry, transportation, banking, agriculture, but also about easing visa restrictions.
-Igor Dodon still insists on not opening a NATO liaison office in Moldova after meeting the Deputy Secretary General. On February 7th, the Moldovan President, Igor Dodon, had a meeting with the Deputy Secretary General of the NATO, Rose Gottemoeller, to discuss the opening of the NATO liaison office in Chișinău.
Secretary Gottemoeller tried to convince that NATO respects the sovereignty of all nations, the right of every nation to set its own course, to choose its own alliances or to choose not to align with anyone, and emphasized that the Alliance fully respects Moldova’s constitutional neutrality. At the same time, the NATO official took the time to describe all the benefits and opportunities the Moldovan state gets from its Partnership.
President Dodon did not seem to agree on opening the NATO office in Moldova, saying that it would create difficulties in the negotiations on Transnistrian conflict settlement. What he appreciated was NATO’s support in, quote, “clearing the pesticides stock, and others”.
Claiming that the journalists are so-called impartial, Dodon avoided a question on Moldova’s questionable neutrality status with Russian troops illegally stationed on its territory (Transnistria).
–A recent Gallup Poll shows that 27% of Moldovans see NATO as a threat, 16% as a protection and 38% as neither of them.
-Moldova will continually make efforts towards the unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops and munitions from its territory in the Transnistrian region, said Prime-Minister Pavel Filip in an interview.
“We will push our efforts further in the direction of the unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops and munitions from the territory of Moldova and the transformation of the current peace-keeping mission on Nistru river in a civil mission with an international mandate”, declared Filip.
The Moldovan premier stressed that the main argument against the presence of foreign troops is the contradiction of Constitution, but also the agreement on the withdrawal of Russian troops signed at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul in 1999. Filip thinks that the current peace-keeping forces fulfilled their task some time ago and should thus be replaced with a civil international force.
-Transnistria asks Russia to finance an audit of government expenditures.
The so-called president of the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic (PMR), Vadim Krasnoselsky, asked in a letter the Russian Deputy Prime-Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, to cooperate in offering financial sources for an audit of governmental expenditures of the unrecognized entity.
-Former IT Minister Vasile Botnari is the new head of Moldovagaz. On February 9th, the Observers’ Council of Moldovagaz approved the new members of the Administration Council of Moldova’s gas distributor.
The current Minister of Informational Technologies and Communications, Vasile Botnari, was appointed President of the Administration Council of Moldovagaz. 41 years old Botnari is known for advancing from the position of director of NobilAir, Vlad Plahotniuc’s personal airlines, to the position of Ministry of Transportation and then, IT Minister of Moldova. He is also one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party.
Nicolai Vasiliev, Liudmila Korobanova and Iacov Cazacu were appointed Vice-Presidents of Moldovagaz. Denis Emelianov, Lidia Zamșa, Elena Tcaciuc, Vitalii Șeptefrați and Mihail Yuriev were given the position of members of the Administration Council.
-On February 10th, the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual of Moldova decided to punish two TV channels, NTV Moldova and Accent TV.
The two TV channels were found guilty of disinformation, presenting opinions as facts and presenting only one point of view in a controversial subject, disseminating distorted information and false facts meant to cause fear, intolerance and hate on the basis of ethnicity and religion.
-Poll IDIS “Viitorul”: President Igor Dodon- 44% approval, Parliament- 66% disapproval.
According to the poll, the Corruption, the (Low) Level of the Salaries and Pensions and the Lack of Jobs are the problems that concern Moldovans the most- approximately 53%.
61,6% of the people believe things in Moldova are going in the wrong direction.
Asked about governance, 82,7% of the respondents answered that Moldova is not governed by the will of the people. 48,5% told that the recent Presidential elections were not free and correct, while 39,2% were satisfied, to the opposite.
In the same poll, 66,1% of people disapproved the activity of the Moldovan Parliament and 60,7% disapproved the current Government. 44,3% approved the activity of the President of Moldova (Igor Dodon), 32% disapproved and 23,7% were not sure about their evaluation.
-Mihai Popșoi writes at Jamestown Foundation that Moldova’s chances to have a successful protest movement to change the government and the governance like in Romania are low, because the Moldovan mass-media, an important factor in the civil society, are either owned, controlled or opressed by the ruling oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc.
-Romania will transfer the second part of the €150 million loan to Moldova one month ahead, the Romanian Finance Ministry decided this week.
Thus, the 50 million euros meant be sent on 31 March 2017 will be sent on 27 February 2017, after the Moldovan Ministry of Finance asked in a letter an earlier transfer.
-Moldova National Bank applied sanctions on former administrators of Banca de Economii and Unibank. On February 2nd and 3rd, the Executive Committee of Moldova’s National Bank decided to apply a maximal sanction fee of 100 252 lei upon the former members of the administration councils of the defrauded Banca de Economii and Unibank.
The sanctioning was imposed for the violation of norms regarding financial institutions, especially when engaging the bank in excessively risky operations, disregarding the limits and requirements of exposing the assets of the bank, manipulating the accounting data and misreporting in the official reports.
The fines applied by the National Bank now do not exclude any further penal prosecution of these persons.
–Transparency International and its national chapter in Moldova are calling on lawmakers to withdraw legislation currently before the Moldovan parliament that would grant impunity to corrupt officials, businesses and civil servants for declaring assets, even if the assets were acquired from illicit wealth.
Transparency International Secretariat writes that the “capital liberalization” law would encourage corruption and money laundering in Moldova.
-On February 6th, the bashkan of the Gagauzia autonomy, Irina Vlah, issued a statement complaining that the Government of Moldova refused to include the autonomy representatives in the delegation to the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Now, Vlah calls on the Parliament of Moldova to approve the respective law and thus, make a real step on the path of harmonization of relations between the central and regional authority.
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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