EU membership for Moldova tied to Transdniester settlement, independence

Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. The EU's Javier Solana rules out EU membership for the country which is mired in corruption

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - An informal European Union-Moldova meeting at the level of deputy foreign ministers is to be held in Brussels on 24 August, Moldova's state-run news agency Moldpres reports.

The meeting comes as Moldova is scrambling for support from the European Union and just a week before the 17th independence anniversary of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR), the official name for the 'de facto' independent republic of Transdniester.

According to official claims, the activities of the Moldovan authorities are streamlined towards the complete fulfilment of the Moldova-EU Action Plan which is to be concluded in February 2008. But EU officials see things differently. The reform plan agreed with Brussels has failed to bring changes to Moldova which remains mired in corruption and government involvement in crime.

" - If this plan were executed it would bring Moldova up to European criteria," said a European diplomat quoted by EUbusiness, noting particularly government failures on defending human rights and media freedom.

Looking forward: Voters in Moldova prefer EU membership rather than clinging to an old territorial claim which over Transdniester which has already ruled itself with "de facto" independence for the past 17 years.

International human rights groups such as Amnesty International have criticized Moldova for allowing torture and for a lack of basic civil rights. Following widespread allegations of fraud by Moldova's long-ruling government, the United States refused to call Moldova's last elections free or fair.

Moldovan officials insist they are on course for EU membership even though the EU sees things differently.

" - The EU is making efforts to help us. It listens to our requests but in the end we have to help ourselves," said Daniela Cujba, head of the Moldovan foreign ministry department for cooperation with the EU.

Cujba says Moldova is hoping for the "same status as Croatia and Macedonia," which are official candidates for EU membership.

Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev said that EU membership has been Moldova's "firm intention" since 2002. But amid ambivalence in the EU about future enlargement, membership for Moldova looks far off.

" - Neither Georgia nor Ukraine nor Moldova has any prospect for joining the EU," said Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (EU), prior to a recently held Russia-EU summit which also underscored the need to seek a permanent political settlement for Transdniester which respects the will of its 550,000 inhabitants.

An overwhelming majority of Transdniestrians firmly support independent statehood. Moldova failed in its 1992 attempt to subdue them by use of military force, and both the OSCE and the European Union have since ruled out any military attempts to solve the conflict. This leaves Moldova with few options except a peacefully negotiated settlement which must lead to supervised independence if it has to respect the will of the voters in the region.

Europe: Peaceful outcome must respect will of voters

Moldova is a full member of both the US-led coalition in Iraq and of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, which is the first step to a membership in the military alliance.

But lately, Moldova's willingness to join NATO and the EU has received a setback. While NATO still continues to step up its close military collaboration with the country, NATO rules prevent full membership for Moldova until the issue of its territorial claim on Transdniester is resolved. And the EU's Vaclav Klaus recently told the press that it "would be unwise to accept Moldova's EU membership before solving Transnistria issue."

" - Trying to accept another Cyprus that will be divided into two parts, making a similar mistake in the case of Moldova, would be unwise," said the Czech President during a summit in May. Transdniester (officially: Pridnestrovie) seceded from the now-dissolved Moldavian SSR in 1990, while it was still part of the Soviet Union and one year before Moldova became an independent country.

Before Moldova can hope of achieving membership of either NATO or the European Union, it must first find a peaceful solution to the issue of Transdniester. The only solution which will be acceptable to Europe is one that adheres to what the voters in Transdniester want. On 16 September 2005, referring to the settlement of the the status of Transdniester, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe noted that that "any solution must accord with the popular will as expressed in fully free and democratic elections."

Voters in Transdniester are overwhelmingly in favor of independence. For them, the only future is one which does not force them into being part of a country that almost none of them have any wish of being part of. Among Transdniester residents, most of the Moldovan ethnic minority also prefers independence instead of a union with neighboring Moldova.

For Brussels, any solution must accord with the will of the voters. And if Moldova will not respect the democratic will of the citizens of Transdniester to choose its own future, its relations with Brussels will be go from cold to icy, an Austrian diplomat predicts. Brussels will be wary of making the Transdniester issue another bone of contention in the EU's already complicated relations with Moscow. (With information from EUbusiness)

See also:
» Moldova in EU but without Transdniestria
» Moldova should choose Europe instead of Transdniester
» Independent Transdniestria good for Moldova