‘Europe should help win peace in Moldova’

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 24/02/05

Moldova, Europe's poorest country, has welcomed measures announced this week aimed at stepping up its relations with the European Union.

Foreign ministers agreed on Monday (21 February) to appoint a special envoy to Moldova and announced plans to open a European Commission delegation in the capital Chisinau.

Moldova's Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev said that he "highly appreciated" the moves and saw them as a sign that Europe is ready to help resolve the conflict with the breakaway republic of Transdniester.

"We hope that this representative will come to Moldova as soon as possible. We look forward to collaborating with him," he told European Voice.

The envoy, who is yet to be appointed, is likely to reach Moldova after parliamentary elections on 6 March.

But Tarlev said that further engagement was needed from the EU: "This is the first step, but not a sufficient step."

Moldova has lobbied intensively for the international community, particularly the EU and US, to match Russia's engagement in the frozen conflict in Transdniester, as a way of balancing out talks.

The sliver of land between the Dniester river and Moldova's frontier with Ukraine has been home to Russian troops since fighting erupted there in 1992.

Ostensibly there as peacekeepers, the Russian forces are suspected by Moldovan authorities and international observers of supporting the Transdniestrian authorities.

Tarlev indicated that time might be running out for talks with Russia, Ukraine, Transdniester and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which failed to resolve the conflict.

"We have been holding negotiations for the sake of holding negotiations. They have only contributed to the consolidation of the separatist Transdniestrian forces," he said.

"It is very regrettable that the five-sided negotiation format has not registered successes during the last ten years."

He hinted that Moldova would press for the EU to join the talks in the weeks to come.

"We can no longer tolerate it. The important thing is to settle this matter definitively. After the elections we will come back to the negotiations and we will see what is necessary to undertake."

Brussels has so far been reluctant to engage, fearing relations with Russia may be damaged.

But with Moldova's neighbour Romania poised to join the EU in 2007 and the political changes following December's elections in Ukraine, pressure on the Union to stabilise the region is increasing.

"2004 was a lost year when it came to conflict resolution," said one EU diplomat handling the Moldovan question, "there is now a new hope that some of these issues can move forward."

Ukraine's change of government has done much to buoy the EU's hopes of better control of the border, which has been wide open to people-smugglers and arms-traders prevalent in Transdniester.

"With the old [Ukrainian] regime there were some direct interests which are basically gone now," said the diplomat.

The EU urged Ukraine on Monday to move towards effective border controls.

But the EU's role in the talks is still uncertain. "A viable solution will not be found without the European Union, ditto Russia," one diplomat conceded, adding that a number of questions remained: "Would us joining this improve things, would it help or would it break the process?"

Some member states, in particular France, are still concerned that relations with Russia will be adversely affected by EU pressure to join in the talks.

But Tarlev rejected these concerns.

"We should not consider relations with Moldova through the prism of relations with any other state," he said.

Moldova, Europe's poorest country, welcomed measures announced by the European Union aimed at stepping up its relations with the Eastern European country. EU Foreign ministers agreed on 21 February 2005 to appoint a special envoy to Moldova and announced plans to open a European Commission delegation in the capital Chisinau.