Analyses

Victoria Bucătaru, executive director, Foreign Policy Association At its 27th anniversary of Independence that we are celebrating at this end of August, one of the most important questions for the Republic of Moldova remains...

In democratic societies, media are considered the fourth branch of power because they provide free, objective information on important matters in politics, society, and local communities for the public. They are not only an...

Moldova, a country with a Soviet past and hopes of a European future, has by no means avoided the problem of fake news and disinformation. Given its geopolitical position, in the past few years...

Synopsis According to the EU, the main challenges of Moldova are the excessive politicization of state institutions, systemic corruption, concentration of media ownership, lack of judiciary independence, the financial sector governance and insufficient investigation into...

Moldova’s presidential elections in November 2016 resulted in a victory for pro-Russian candidate Igor Dodon. This brief discusses the consequences for the country’s foreign policy trajectory and domestic politics. Extracthttp://www.ape.md/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2016_NIT_Moldova_Elections_Brief_Final.pdf

Victor Chirila: Moldova avoided a big disaster at the 5+2 negotiations in Berlin, but only for now... Moldova avoided a big disaster in Berlin. Despite increased and coordinated pressure, George Balan, the Deputy Prime Minister...

On 29 November 2015, Transnistrian separatist region held its ordinary parliamentarian elections. The elections are considered unconstitutional by the Moldovan authorities and, therefore, are not recognized by the Republic of Moldova and the international...

BUCHAREST— Local elections in Moldova this weekend have strengthened the position of the incumbent government, despite allegations of corruption on a massive scale. Earlier this year, around $1 billion — about 12 percent of...

In the wake of the EaP Summit in Vilnius that took place on 28-29 November 2013, Moldova was considered the brightest star of the EaP. Its merits were evident. It initialed the Association Agreement (AA) including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Aria (DCFTA) with the EU concluded successfully the visa liberalization dialogue with the EU and the European Commission recommended to the EU Council the lifting of visa requirements for Moldovan citizens who hold biometric passports. Five months later, on 28 April 2014, the EU has liberalized visa regime with Moldova, then, on 27 June 2014, Moldova signed the AA and started its provisional implementation on 1 September 2014. The prospects of Moldovas partnership with the EU were much more promising than ever before.

In 2014, the small-step policy of engagement with the Transnistrian administration has stalled. The consultations in the "5+2" format were discontinued and discussions on the political and security issues remained blocked. The sectorial cooperation between both banks has generally known no development. The joint working groups met without deciding anything substantial and their work agendas were dominated mainly by the conflicting issues. The situation in the security zone of the conflict continued to deteriorate, while the mutual recriminations between Tiraspol and Chisinau on sabotaging the dialogue have become increasingly common.

Moldova supports the ENP as a general policy framework for its members, nevertheless, it is pledging for a clear cut distinction between ENPs South and East dimensions, between the Eastern Partnership and the Mediterranean Union, between the European and non-European neighbours of the EU. Moreover, past five year have shown that even the Eastern Partnership is not a monolithic group of countries, on the contrary, its members have different level of ambitions when it comes to the scope and depth of their domestic reforms and their relationships with the EU. Therefore, Moldova is pledging strongly for a deeper differentiation including between the Eastern Partnership countries. In its view, the countries that have the will and determination to develop political association and economic integration relations with the EU, through implementing far-reaching democratic and economic reforms, should enjoy a clear cut European membership perspective.

Unlike Republic of Moldova, Ukraine never anchored the principle of neutrality in its Constitution, although it announced this intention in the 1990 Declaration of Independence. Ukraines experience in terms of neutrality is only limited to the period of 2010-2014, when Kiev passed a law regarding Ukraines non-adherence to military blocs și so called non-bloc status. After repealing of this law, Ukraine comes back to the idea of adherence to NATO, even though there is hardly any possibility for this idea to become reality in the near future, due to the war in the region. Observing Kievs fluctuations between a country with a neutrality status and the desire to come under the Western security umbrella, the Chisinau Government could draw some conclusions related to the functionality of the neutrality principle enshrined in Article 11 of the Constitution.

On November 30, Moldova held a crucial parliamentary election, the results of which will determine the countrys future for years to come. Major political parties advocated not merely different policies, but diametrically opposite geopolitical options: an association agreement with the European Union or membership in the Russia-led Customs Union.

The big weakness of the Moldovan authorities on the Transnistrian dimension is the lack of a credible country reintegration policy that would be approved and supported by at least the ruling parliamentary majority. In our opinion, any State policy must have a set of essential elements, namely: a vision, a strategy and means of implementation, to be able to achieve the objectives. Thus, further we will analyse the given components, presenting the facts and highlighting their main weaknesses.

2013 has been the year when the first steps in combating discrimination in the Republic of Moldova were undertaken, some difficult steps, especially for the newly elected members of the Council to prevent and liquidate the discrimination and ensure equality (hereinafter, the Anti-Discrimination Council or the CAD), which is the main entity both to combat and sanction discrimination and to promote non-discrimination within the society. It may be said that 2013 was largely devoted to some organizational issues, which enabled the creation and capacity building in the field of non-discrimination. Even if we cannot talk about some spectacular results at the public level, however, it was especially the second half of the year that marked an intense period of storage and organization of capabilities, while the results will be felt in 2014 and beyond.

After a series of unsuccessful attempts to reform the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) in the context of various strategic initiatives and foreign or domestic policies, in 2013, the Republic of Moldova has made a decisive step towards the creation of a new police system, adjusted to the European requirements, when the functions of the MAI were separated from those of the police. Thus, the MAI is no longer a Ministry of the Police. It develops, evaluates and coordinates the implementation of the police policies. Policing, which is to maintain the public order, to prevent and combat criminal activity lies solely with the police. This separation of the police from the political sphere was made by a new Law on the Policing and Police Officer Status that was passed in 2012 and entered into force in 2013. Only after more than 20 years of independence and the creation of a state subject to the rule of law, the police gets rid of the status of "the armed body" and the substantive and formal elements that are deeply rooted in the legacy left by the Soviet militia.

Despite the stated interest to undertake a multidimensional reform of the Prosecutor's Office, few of the defined priority activities were carried out, while the initiated ones are at an early stage. Both the foreign monitoring and the domestic observers found deficiencies in respect of the promotion of initiatives aimed at reforming the Prosecutor's Office. Thus, the reform of the Prosecutor's Office has at present arrears as regards most of the chapters. However, certain actions, related to the overall reform effort, were implemented during the reporting period.

After 22 years of independence, Republic of Moldova (R. Moldova) finally made its first real step towards a comprehensive and foreseeable foreign and domestic policy. The European agenda became one of the elements that guided the domestic reforms and mobilized the activities inside and outside the country. Without neglecting the still existing shortcomings, authorities as well as the civil society concentrated on putting into practice the EU și R. Moldova bilateral documents as to make the European course of the R. Moldova an irreversible one.

On May 3, 2013 after a long, hard and untreatable disease, hit by a blind bullet at a boar hunting, died the wunderkind of the Eastern Partnership, the spoiled schoolgirl of Europe și the Success Story of Moldova. In the last moments of her life, she was accompanied by her father Vladimir Filat, President of the Liberal Democratic Party and her step uncle Vladimir Voronin, President of the Communist Party.

For two decades, the answer escapes us as a Fata Morgana in the desert of Sahara. For two decades, the Republic of Moldova struggles between to be and not to be. For two decades, Moldova swings confused between East and West. For two decades, we choose between democracy and oligarchy, wealth and poverty, between the modern state and the bankrupt one, forgotten at the edge of European civilization.