Politics
Ambassador Dirk Schuebel: There is still inefficient fight against corruption in Moldova/INTERVIEW
Reading Time: 5 minutesWe present an interview with Dirk Schuebel European Union Ambassador to Chisinau for Moldova. ORG.
In an exclusive interview with Moldova.ORG, the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Dirk Schuebel spoke about the success achieved by Moldova in terms of European integration.
Please find below the entire interview.
Moldova.ORG: What does the Association Agreement actually mean for Moldova and how is it going to affect the regular people once signed?
Dirk Schuebel: On the political side, the Association Agreement means that Moldova will join our political efforts.On the economic side — this is perhaps even more important — we will carry out the substantive alignment of our policies, of our legislations, of our standards. It means that Moldova will align and implement many of our legal standards brought in all kind of different areas, like public procurement, sanitary standards, competition and state aid.
In all these areas we aimed that European rules will rain in Moldova. That means that you will have much more legal security; the process will be much objective than it is now. For ordinary citizens it means security in the country, more possibilities to export, to act as a businessman, to get in contact. Perhaps it will be much easier to establish your own business as a Moldovan businessman in Europe.
Only by starting the negotiations on the Association Agreement, a so-called standstill clause has been agreed on duties. Since we started the negotiations on the Association Agreement no duty can be changed anymore. For instance, last year we increased the quota for wine and for some other products for exports of Moldova to the European Union. There will be no such quantitative quota anymore, once the Association Agreement including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area will start.
Moldova.ORG: If a visa free travel regime with the EU will be established, under what conditions will the Moldovans be able to travel freely and to what countries?
Dirk Schuebel: This concerns only Schengen countries. But Schengen countries are the majority of EU member states and maybe by that time, even more countries will join the Schengen zone. Concerning the other agreements, Moldova will have to agree bilaterally. For instance, with the United Kingdom – this has to be done separately.
In practice, this means that once we have achieved an agreement on visa free regime, the Moldovan citizens can travel for up to 3 months in a row without any visa, only with their Moldovan passport to the Schengen countries of the European Union. Moreover, they can move within 3 months freely inside the Schengen zone, but they will not be allowed to go for an employment in that period.
Moldova.ORG: Would people residing in Transnistria bearing the Moldovan passport benefit from this regulation?
Dirk Schuebel: Anybody with a Moldovan passport can travel.
Moldova.ORG: Do you see a strong commitment of the Moldovan society (not just of state institutions) to move closer to the EU?
Dirk Schuebel: I think it is also the task of the Moldovan Government to inform the society what are we doing, what are the negotiations are all about, what does a visa free travel regime and the Association Agreement mean. This is the main task of the Moldovan Government.
Obviously, we will help as much as we can as delegation of the EU. Whenever I am traveling inside the country, of course, I am informing my counterparts and people. I am meeting a lot of civil society representatives, as well.
It is very important to have the people on board, to do something so the people understand that [the reforms are] good for them and Moldova as a country, to move ahead, to advance, and to become a prosperous country. We believe that we can make an important step towards such a prosperous country once we have signed and successfully implemented our Association Agreement.
Moldova.ORG: Is Moldova efficiently spending foreign funds from donors for reforms?
Dirk Schuebel: I can only talk about EU funds, because this is what I am responsible for here. Regarding our funds, I can say that an absolute, vast majority of our funds is very correctly used. We also have a quite good security mechanism for our projects. There is a list of conditionality: we pay budget support in different tranches, and we will not pay the next tranche if the whole set of conditions has not been fulfilled. So, we control it. We have already applied this in one case where we have not paid, but withheld the funds for one year, and paid one year later when the conditions were fulfilled.
Moldova.ORG: What are the areas in which Moldova has the biggest achievements in terms of reforms?
Dirk Schuebel: I think there are a few areas in which Moldova has made good progress. The justice reform strategy is ready to be implemented. This is an important achievement. The reform of the judiciary is one of the most important criteria to measure how democracy and the rule of law are implemented in Moldova at this stage. I see also good efforts in the reform of the Ministry of Interior since the nomination of the new minister. These are the areas which are on the right track.
In the energy sector, Moldova has made a good progress with aligning the legislation to the EU standards through the commitment to implement the so-called second and third packages of the Energy Community Treaty.
In the visa dialog we have also seen that Moldova has been able to adopt in a short period of time all our necessary pieces of legislation, as well as all necessary standards in order to be able to move to phase two of our visa dialogue.
Altogether we believe that Moldova is on a good track, but of course is a lot of work that remains to be done.
Moldova.ORG: What are Moldova’s shortcomings in terms of implementing reforms?
Dirk Schuebel: I think Moldova has had — up until March — problems resulting from non-electing the president. I am very pleased to see that since the president has been elected, there is much more unilateral approach between the three alliance parties in terms of implementation of reforms.
The biggest shortcoming in my view is the not-so-efficient fight against corruption in the country. More needs to be done in the future. We stand ready to help. We have a couple of projects which aim to help in this context. Linked to the fight against corruption, we have to speed up further the reform of judiciary. We have to improve the investment plan and make it easier to investors to come here and invest. We should reduce the red tape that is still raining in a number of areas. We see a lot of willingness on the Moldovan side to move quickly ahead.
Moldova.ORG: What is next for Moldova? When is the next round of negotiations with EU?
Dirk Schuebel: The next round of negotiations on Association Agreement including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area is in 10 days time in Brussels. There will be a whole range of meetings in that week in Brussels. There will be negotiations on the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area; there will be a meeting on the mobility partnership, there will be a sub-committee on trade and investment, and there will the cooperation committee.
So, this will be a “Moldova week” in Brussels that shows again the intensifications of our relations. A week later we will have the big moment of the visit of the president of the European Commission, Mr. José Manuel Barroso to Moldova on the 29th and 30th of November.
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
“They are not needy, but they need help”. How Moldovan volunteers try to create a safe environment for the Ukrainian refugees
Reading Time: 3 minutesAt the Government’s ground floor, the phones ring constantly, the laptop screens never reach standby. In one...
#WorldForUkraine – a map that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe international community and volunteers from all over te world have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform that...
How is Moldova managing the big influx of Ukrainian refugees? The authorities’ plan, explained
Reading Time: 3 minutesFrom 24th to 28th of February, 71 359 Ukrainian citizens entered the territory of Republic of Moldova....
Russia And Ukraine At The Beginning of 2022
Reading Time: 4 minutesThis opinion piece was written by Dr. Nicholas Dima. Dr. Dima was formerly a Professor of Geography and...
The man raising children on Nistru river
Reading Time: 7 minutesOn the Nistru, near the village of Varnița, a few colored pens with blue dots in the...
The village of the first astronomer in the Republic of Moldova
Reading Time: 5 minutesFrom eight in the morning till noon, every Thursday and Sunday, people lay their merchandise on the...
The prodigal son returns and turns his grandparents’ home in a tourist attraction on Nistru river
Reading Time: 7 minutesOn the road towards the school, a well-maintained rural house catches your eye, yellow stags painted on...
FC Sheriff Tiraspol victory: can national pride go hand in hand with political separatism?
Reading Time: 4 minutesA new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred...
Study// What is the reaction of authorities to journalistic investigations?
Reading Time: 3 minutes“People expect logical consequences when they see cases of undeclared assets, conflicts of interest, protectionism or proof...
Secretary General of CoE called on Moldova’s state institutions to avoid constitutional crisis. Politicians took it the way they wanted.
Reading Time: 3 minutesAt the beginning of this month, Speaker of Parliament, Zinaida Greceanii, sent a letter to Secretary General...