Yevgeny Shevchuk: "This situation doesn't help constructive dialogue and a search for solutions"

Yevgeny Shevchuk, a fresh face of politics, just 38 years old, is leading the wave of democratic reform in Pridnestrovie.

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Yevgeny Shevchuk, 38, is the young and charismatic leader of Pridnestrovie's largest opposition party, Renewal. Renewal, which won a surprise victory in the December 2005 parliamentary elections, became the largest party in the unrecognized country's Parliament. Its leader, a native-born resident of Rybnitsa in northern Pridnestrovie, became the Speaker of Parliament.

Since then, leading members of Parliament has been at odds with parts of the executive branch, in particular the Presidency and the PMR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His biography profile describes him as "social democratic technocrat with an European outlook, and a man of profound democratic beliefs". As part of the minority opposition in parliament prior to December 2005, he spearheaded a reform drive by his party to introduce changes to the electoral code. This was positively reported in the United States State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices.

In a 2005 report, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe referred to Yevgeny Shevchuk in the context of democratic reform, noting that "Transnistria is moving towards more pluralism" (using one of the unofficial names for Pridnestrovie) and highlighted the Parliament's "own initiatives on the reform of the political system" which were spearheaded by Yevgeny Shevchuk's group. Now, parliament has founded its own newspaper, “People’s advice”, as a way to brings it views directly to the voters. Here is a translation of an interview which appeared in the first issue.

Yevgeny, more than a year has passed since the new Parliament was elected. How do you view the work considering the difficulties of 2006?

" - Unfortunately, the year 2006 wasn't noted for its stability – neither political (introduction of new customs regulations) or economic. But last year's challenges had no negative impact on the quality of work of Parliament. Parliamentarians reviewed 40% more Bills than members of the previous Parliament during their first year in office. Last year we also focused on the foreign political situation. The number of visits of members of Parliament to promote international cooperation increased; they participated in different events, and international conferences where they voiced Pridnestrovie’s position, and informed the public about the events happening here in Pridnestrovie.

After the surprise introduction of the new customs regulations I think that Parliament was one of stabilization factors in that situation. In my opinion, we prevented hasty and useless discussions both in Parliament and society. Measures taken by Parliament smoothed out the negative effects and averted a social crisis. Last spring Parliament initiated the fourth congress of PMR deputies of all levels which declared the necessity of holding a referendum on our foreign policy priorities.

To sum it up, the previous year was rather difficult and full of significant events in which Parliament took an active part, and I consider Parliament’s work as successful."

As Speaker of Parliament and the leader of Renewal (Obnovlenie), how do you see democracy being built?

" - Party plurality is a normal and natural process. However, it’s important not to overdo it… One public movement per ten people is probably not the best. On the other hand, nobody forbids the formation of new parties – there are no restrictions whatsoever in this sphere. What matters first of all is that the aims of the parties should not be declarative, but that their supporters should be united with concrete ideas and their activities ought to promote the wellbeing and prosperity of Pridnestrovie. Of course, we can all use different ways to reach the same goal. And, naturally, we can debate which way is best, but above everything else, debate should be based on tolerance and mutual respect."

Is Parliament ready to initiate an electoral reform?

" - Any party’s aim, if it’s a real political party, is to advance its ideological goals. These are natural processes and there’s nothing wrong with that.

It is true that many Pridnestrovian political parties and NGOs are now discussing changes to the electoral system to have it become based on the system of proportional representation. Renewal was the first to support a mixed electoral system; it was announced at the first congress of the Renewal party when this public movement re-registered as a party.

Our statement, I believe, has been a spur to active party plurality in Pridnestrovie – there are now five large parties in the republic and an equal number of smaller parties. However, the crux of the problem is not in the type of the electoral system; be it a party ticket system or a majority voting system. We should change the structure of government to achieve maximum efficiency."

What is the ruling party in Pridnestrovie?

" - In fact, two parties are currently in power. The Renewal party (Obnovlenie) dominates in Parliament, but the executive branch is led by supporters of the Republican party (Respublika). It makes sense to ask what party is the ruling party at the moment, but what’s the answer? The winning party has power in countries where the electoral system is based on a party ticket system of voting. Our situation is different: One party won the majority in Parliament but the supporters of another party prevail in the executive branch. Of course, there’s an ideological ground for certain disagreement in decision-making. It is not because we are good and they are bad or vice versa. There’s another reason for it. There’s an internal discrepancy in the system of government formation, which is easily removed in other states where the principal executive officers are appointed by the majority of members of Parliament. Such is the procedure in Ukraine, Russia, Europe. In no way do I intend to denigrate the legislative branch, the executive branch or the judicial branch, but examples from around the world show that the government should be formed considering the opinion of people who elect and support the party whose aims and goals are most attractive to them.

I’m sure that it won't take long for the idea of reforming our system of government to mature. Moreover, not only the legislative but also the executive branch will be reformed."

This year, Parliament annulled resolutions on possible common state building. Was this a response to the economic blockade?

" - Originally, Parliament approved two resolutions setting out two different forms of possible settlement – the first one (adopted in 1993) proposes a confederation with Moldova, the second (adopted in 2003) suggests a federation.

The resolution of 1993 aimed to sign an agreement with Moldova and to preserve the state within the borders existing before 1990. But as it is well-known, Moldova itself did not support the idea of confederation and Chisinau only offered "cultural autonomy". Then, in 2003, there was an attempt to draft a common Constitution of a federation. While working over it, representatives for Moldova, of course, spoke of the confederation; however, they even didn’t mention it in the title. As we know, the work of the constitutional commission reached a deadlock. This was followed by a period of active economic pressure imposed against Pridnestrovie by Moldova. So on one hand, we had previously adopted resolutions, on the other hand, - the Constitution of 1995 and our foreign policy guidelines of 2005 confirming the wish of Pridnestrovians to build a sovereign and independent state.

As the legislative branch, Parliament considered it necessary to bring the valid documents into line with our Constitution and our foreign policy guidelines. So we’ve simply done that. It was a necessity, and not done on someone’s order as Moldovan media reported. It was not the first time when we placed revocation of previously approved resolutions on the agenda for the plenary session; we held numerous consultations (people spoke in favor and against the initiative), the consideration of the matter was postponed many times. The decision has already been taken – we can’t discuss a confederation, a federation or a common state after Moldova itself already enacted a law offering a truncated autonomy to Pridnestrovie. I think our decision to revoke resolutions of 1993 and 2003 is correct and fair in these circumstances."

So what is your model for solving the conflict with Moldova?

" - Right now, tension between Moldova and Pridnestrovie is at a peak. This problem can be resolved only through negotiations, sitting down face to face. It’s unrealistic to expect to be heard through a brick wall. There have always been only two possible ways of conflict resolution throughout the history of mankind – either to negotiate or to fight it out. Unfortunately, at the initial stage of the conflict, Moldova chose the first way… At present such a course of events is not in the interests of any of the two sides, so the only way forward now is to negotiate.

At first, in these negotiations, the focus should be on a normalization of our relations. We still have problems on the Pridnestrovian-Ukrainian border as well as on the Moldavian-Pridnestrovian border. Restrictions imposed on passenger and freight traffic should be lifted provided that the parties observe their previous agreements. I repeat that we should negotiate with our neighbors, but we’d like to first have an appropriate atmosphere for negotiations.

There is a really bad tradition: Moldova takes unjustified actions against Pridnestrovie and then immediately invites us to negotiate. What negotiations can we talk about under such circumstances? Negotiations are possible only if efforts are positive and constructive from both sides. But we don’t have those conditions now, thanks to the preliminary actions by Moldova. Problems which arose after the last year of blockade are still not resolved; the issue of permanent registration with Moldovan tax authorities is still hanging over our companies like the sword of Damocles, our companies still suffer from exaggerated expenses to transport their goods because rail traffic has not been restored in full.

We don't set any preliminary conditions, but would merely like the mediators to understand that we are being urged to engage in negotiations through pressure and this situation doesn't help constructive dialogue and a search for solutions which are acceptable to both sides."

See also:
» Yevgeny Shevchuk: "We will work for more and more democratization"
» Yevgeny Shevchuk: "Democracy means respecting the majority will of the people"