Politics
Vladimir Socor: A union between Moldova and Romania would jeopardize Romania’s chances to enter the EU
Reading Time: 6 minutesVladimir Socor: A union between Moldova and Romania would jeopardize Romania’s chances to enter the EU
Exclusive interview with a western political analyst, Vlad Socor
Question: Mr. Socor, how do you consider the statements Romanian President Traian Basescu made on 1 and 3 July about an eventual unification between Romania and Moldova from the prospect of their EU entry?
SOCOR: These emotional and unrealistic statements by President Basescu do not have to make us lose sight of fundamental things that are in force: Romania is doomed to be Moldova’s consistent backer, the advocate on whom Moldova counts in hard times. I repeat what I have already said: President Basescu and the Hungarian Foreign Minister help focus Washington’s and Brussels’ attention on Moldova’s problems: the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria; the need in the EU trade and travel preferences; and Moldova’s inclusion in the group of the South-eastern European states which have more favourable EU accession conditions.
The capital of confidence between Chisinau and Bucharest, which has been carefully built up by Traian Basescu, as well as Romania’s international credibility, are too precious to be easily wasted by this latest statements.
The idea that Moldova could join the European Union through some mechanism of unification with Romania is merely a fantasy. There has never been and neither could it be any 2005 offer by Bucharest to "bring" Moldova within the EU jointly with Romania. President Basescu could by no means seriously propose this to President Voronin.
Brussels did not authorize Bucharest to make such proposals to Chisinau.
There is no way Brussels could authorise Bucharest to make such a proposal to Chisinau. And it is unconceivable that Bucharest called on the EU to authorise such a scenario, because it would have jeopardised even Romania’s chances to enter the EU.
The European Union negotiated Romania’s accession on the basis of clearly defined conditions, which Romania has fulfilled slowly and with difficulty till this year. Brussels negotiated the accession namely with Romania, and not with some state union "Romania-Moldova", which somebody figured out. For the time being, Moldova is far from meeting the criteria and conditions so that to start at least the EU accession process. Brussels would not have "imported" the territory from the right bank of the Dniestre river with its unresolved social and economic problems, and neither would it have allowed losing the territory from the left bank of Dniestre by its transformation into a kind of "Kaliningrad-II". The EU’s policy is based on Moldova’s independence and integrity.
Of course, Moldova will advance along the European integration way, being helped including by Romania, which will soon become an EU member. But there is no "short way" to enter the EU, without meeting the EU criteria. Chisinau follows correctly the way of the European Union Action Plan for Moldova, and not fantasy scenarios.
Such statements could lead to social division and lack of trust between these two countries.
Question: What do you think about the opportunity of President Basescu’s statements?
Answer: I deem as inopportune to emphasise the historical and national identity problems, and to resume discussions and render political the "Moldovan or Romanian" issue. Moldova has long ago found out the counterproductive effects of such approaches: social disunion, distracting attention from real problems, mutual attacks in media, lack of confidence between the two banks of Prut, and drawing water to Tiraspol’s mill. It is also inopportune to formulate the problem in territorial terms, being nostalgic about the "lost territories" – this vision is misplaced nowadays.
The consistent return to the historical problems and the national identity issue do not represent Romania’s political strategy on Moldova, they rather point to a deficit of strategy. Last year, President Basescu proceeded to repair this deficit, repeatedly stating that the time is ripe to move from discussions about history and philology to measures in the gas and electricity sectors. The Romanian president was right to incriminate Russia’s "energy blackmail" and promised to help Moldova cope with it. In his turn, the Hungarian Foreign Minister cooperates with Chisinau for Moldova’s European integration through the Balkan channel.
A European partnership with Moldova will bring regional and international credibility and prestige to Romania. On the contrary, a policy based on historical and identity criteria is no longer understood in the contemporary Europe, especially if such a policy is officially presented in this old-fashioned way.
Question: How do you think, what impact these statements will have on the Romanian-Moldovan relations?
Answer: A new round of "traditional" Bucharest-Chisinau polemics on historical and national identity issues can by no means be allowed. Moscow and Tiraspol are as happy as one can be in such situations. The past years’ polemics would have disastrous consequences nowadays, when the stakes are bigger than ever both for Chisinau and Bucharest.
Today, Moldova has to face Russia’s economic and political siege meant to return Moldova from the European way. Any disunion or mistrust between Bucharest and Chisinau and within the Moldovan society favour Russia’s strategy. It is perfectly convenient to Russia that different social Moldovan groups quarrel because of historical and philological conflicts, weakening, thus, the entire society’s resistance to the Russian plans.
By opening again these controversial problems, President Basescu says that he talked as a good Romanian citizen. Of course, he is absolutely frank. But experts should have explained to him that such a way of doing things has always led to misunderstandings and disunion. At present, Romania s effectiveness as Moldova’s advocate and backer, as provider of consensus rather than of controversies, is Bucharest’ and Chisinau’s joint stake.
Moldova has reached a political truce on identity controversies. Of course, there are exceptions too, but this non-stated truce is based on a social consensus. Until now, the government and civil society refrained from commenting on President Basescu’s statements. This restraint and cautiousness proves the government’s and social society’s political maturity. There are only a few people from the Moldovan political world who
seem to want to call President Voronin to account for he allegedly "lost the chance" to enter the EU alongside Romania through its "offer". But as a matter of fact, as I have already said, such a chance or offer has never been and neither could they be.
Most of the Bucharest press (minus some predictable exceptions) is critical or sceptical as to the opportunity of these statements by President Basescu. On the two banks of the Prut river, the old-fashioned "national-historical" prospect looses room in favour of the European agenda.
Question: What impact, in your opinion, will these statements have on the relations between Romania and the European Union?
Answer: Romania’s credibility on Moldova’s problems is a trump both for Romania and Moldova. From this point of view, the statements’ immediate impact risks to be a negative one. It is possible that Brussels asks Bucharest a few questions about these statements.
I have spoken whenever possible for Romania’s accession to the negotiations on the Transnistrian conflict settlement and for the EU to consult Romania step by step. My argument was that Romania has a legal interest and the necessary expertise for this role, both on its own behalf, and as EU’s mouthpiece in the region. But this argument proved to have a gap. Anyway, many European governments were distrustful from different reasons.
Even if Bucharest has not entered the negotiations for the time being, it had the possibility to significantly and positively influence the EU’s joint policy on Moldova, immediately after Romania’s accession to the EU, that is, in a few months. But following Basescu’s statements, Bucharest’s credibility in Brussels risks to fall.
The Romanian president’s confession that he always thinks of Romania’s unification with Moldova in a single state can be idealistic, but Brussels will answer that it does not suit the EU’s vision. So, Bucharest instead of
influencing positively the EU’s policy very soon, could be asked by the EU to comply with its policies in the existing limits.
The example of "two Germanys" is inadequate regarding the relationship between Moldova and Romania.
The comparison between the unification of the two Germanys and an eventual unification between Romania and Moldova can be hardly backed because the situations are very distinct. It is for the first time that I hear from Bucharest the idea that Romania is "the only country, the only nation that is still divided". I usually have heard a similar topic – of disunited people – from some political groups in Russia, Serbia and Hungary. But I have never heard this idea in the German-Austrian, or Dutch-Belgian, or French-Belgian-Swiss contexts within the European Union.
Question: Are there Moldovan or European forces that could speculate on these statements to Moldova s detriment?
Answer: In Moldova, there are some political groups with small election potential, which hope to survive due to the issue over identity, and they could interpret these statements as a sign of Bucharest’s official support.
Such groups seek to take the place of the Christian Democratic Popular Party, now that it evolved from a national Romanian party in Bessarabia to the role of a European party in Moldova. In my opinion, such calculations are made in vain. They would lead to nothing but the division of the centre-right vote, misbalancing the whole political system.
Of course, Tiraspol and Moscow will try to speculate on these statements. Tiraspol will do it in a primitive way of internal propaganda, while Moscow will be somehow more sophisticated using its diplomatic channels.
Question: Do President Basescu’s statements refer somehow to Ukraine too?
Answer: So far, I have seen no reaction from Kiev, where the government and the political parties are busy with internal power fights. Of course, some of the territories to which President Basescu referred in the context of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact are nowadays part of Ukraine. But I am convinced that his statements imply by no way territorial claims. Romania and Ukraine have already signed an interstate treaty, while Romania’s treaty with Moldova is still under negotiations.
Poland has lost much more territories than Romania, as a direct or indirect consequence of the same pact. Former Polish territories nowadays are part of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. But Poland has never been nostalgic about the reintegration problem. Poland has signed interstate treaties which recognise the present borders. This partially explains Poland’s prestige in Europe, and Poland’s credibility as Ukraine’s advocate within the European Union.
Vladimir Socor is an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation Research Center, editorialist and political observer for the Wall Street Journal, contributor for Radio Free Europe. // Moldpres
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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