 | WHY NOT HIM? Analysts tipped opposition leader Yevgeny Shevchuk as the man who could beat Smirnov. So why didn't he run for president? Here, he explains. [more] |  | | |  | LENIN'S LEGACY is alive and well in Pridnestrovie. But it means something very different than what you might think at first glance. [more] |
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Pridnestrovie views 2008 with cautious optimism
Pridnestrovie is entering the new year with an attitude of careful, cautious optimism. A Moldovan member of the young country's parliament says that everything will be fine as long as Moldova stops interfering. Attitudes in Moldova changed in the past year, with a majority of the population now willing to let Pridnestrovie have its freedom and independence - however, the government of Moldova still disagrees. 
Festive season's decoration from a middle class home in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie. (Photo: Ekaterina Semenyuk)RYBNITSA (Tiraspol Times) - Entering 2008, Pridnestrovie's pro-independence population is cautiously optimistic that this will be a better year for the unrecognized country and that its freedom is not at risk.
Having declared independence in 1990, 2008 is the year that the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR) will turn eighteen years old.
Although Pridnestrovie functions as a separate and sovereign country, its "de facto" independence is still not recognized diplomatically by other states. This could change in 2008, say some in the capital Tiraspol, where all eyes are on Kosovo and its own bid for independence as it seeks to break away from Serbia and as it aspires to obtain partial international recognition.
The Speaker of Pridnestrovie's Parliament, opposition leader Yevgeny Shevchuk, officially announced that international relations will be intensified in 2008. If this can not be done through the foreign ministries, for formal diplomatic reasons, then the contacts will be handled in a "people to people" diplomacy as well as through direct contacts to parliaments in other countries.
Downtown Tiraspol entered 2008 covered in white. Here, the statue of the city's founder, general Alexander Suvorov.
" - Normal constructive relations between government agencies may ensure and allow free movement of citizens of Ukraine, Moldova and Pridnestrovie and goods," said Shevchuk in his prediction for 2008.
" - We want to promote contacts with neighboring states, we should and need to have a dialogue with neighbors on terms mutually profitable for both parties," he added, noting that Parliament has a plan for intensifying its relations with Parliaments of neighboring states.
- Viable statehood
Internally, the new and emerging country has shown itself to be self-sustaining even in the absence of financial aid from abroad. This gives optimism to its population because it proves that "going it alone" and maintaining its independent statehood is viable.
" - Transdniestria is entering the new year with more confidence. This is because we know that all planned macroeconomic indicators can be met if there is simply no interference from the outside," said Peter Pasat, an ethnic Moldovan who is a member of Pridnestrovie's parliament for opposition party Renewal. His implicit message to Moldova was clear: Leave us alone, and we will do just fine, thank you.
Optimistic: " - We know that all planned macroeconomic indicators can be met if there is simply no interference from the outside," says ethnic Moldovan Peter Pasat, a member of Pridnestrovie's Parliament.
In his annual New Year's Address, the President of Pridnestrovie also said that 2008 will be a better year than any of the previous 17 in the young country's history.
" - Better management in all parts of life: the economy, education, science - every year, everything gets better," said Igor Smirnov.
" - In 2008 we will celebrate the 18th anniversary of our nation. We have in all ways constructed our statehood, and this is your merit," the President told the 550,000 citizens of Pridnestrovie on TV from Tiraspol.
- Moldova: 3 significant developments in 2007
Looking back at 2007, observers single out three significant shifts in Moldova's attitude towards Pridnestrovie.
In September, in a widely respected opinion poll by CBS-AXA Center for Sociological Research and Marketing in Chisinau, it was revealed that 68% of Moldova's population accept independence for Pridnestrovie if this is a needed for Moldova's EU-integration. An earlier poll also revealed that only 3% of all Moldovans consider "Transnistria" (as it is called in Moldova's Romanian language) an important issue for the country.
In October, a former advisor to Moldova's president then formally proposed to give up Moldova's long-unfulfilled territorial claim and just set Pridnestrovie free in order to "speed up the train" to future European Union membership. Sergiu Mocanu declared the unresolved territorial claim to be "dead weight" which harms Moldova's chances for EU membership. As expected, Moldova's government immediately rejected the plan, but it nevertheless resonated widely among ordinary voters. Consistently, the Public Opinion Barometer, showed that a mere 3% of Moldovans saw "the Transnistria problem" as being important.
Also in October, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin declared that Pridnestrovie had significantly improving its international image.
" - No one speaks today about the contraband of commodities across this section of the border and no one claims that Transnistria's economy can function in the criminal format only," Voronin told journalists in October, as reported by news agency Itar-Tass. However, the mudslinging returned two months later, in December 2007, when Voronin in a seeming reversal contradicted himself and called Pridnestrovie (Transdniestria) a "mafia state."
In its regular reports to the international community, the European Union's EUBAM border monitoring mission - in place since 2005 - repeatedly confirmed that Pridnestrovie was not involved in any illegal activities, as had been previously claimed by Moldova. Moldova's earlier allegations of smuggling and arms trafficking turned out to be false, and no evidence was ever provided.
Pridnestrovie has always rejected the Moldovan accusations as groundless "black propaganda" aimed at discrediting its right to freedom and self-determination, and has pointed out that the claims completely lack any basis in reality.
See also:
» Majority of Moldovans willing to accept Transnistria's independence
» Moldova govt won't consider ex-advisor's Transnistria settlement plan
» Moldova admits that Transnistria now has a clean public image
On the web:
» Pridnestrovie.net
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On Tuesday British Ambassador John Beyer came to Tiraspol for an official visit to Transdniestria's Parliament. In return, head of Parliament Yevgeny Shevchuk, 39, will be in London next week. He will address a conference on Transdniestria which takes place in the British capital on May 7. . . 
