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Activity of public institutions

Parliament
Government
Presidency

Strategic consensus vs opposition regarding governing mode by Sergiu Grossu

I. Activity of public institutions

1. Parliament

1.1. Appointments. Dismissals

• Lawmakers have appointed the following persons as new members of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC):
  1. Mihail Busuleac on behalf of the parliamentary faction AMN
  2. Iurie Ciocan on behalf of the parliamentary faction PCRM
  3. Victor Kostetki on behalf of the parliamentary faction PCRM
  4. Vasile Gafton on behalf of the parliamentary faction PDM
  5. Nicolae Girbu on behalf of the parliamentary faction AMN
  6. Renata Lapti on behalf of the parliamentary faction PPCD
  7. Eugen Stirbu on behalf of the parliamentary faction PDM

  The chief of state appointed Valentin Vizant as CEC member, while the Government named Pavel Midrigan. Respectively, representatives of the governing and majority faction hold four out of nine existing mandates in CEC, while parliamentary opposition representatives hold another five mandates.

  To mention that lawmakers did not pass any decision on relief of CEC members who worked until appointment of new members from offices. Thus, if the former CEC members did not request to be relieved from offices, there are circumstances for the five CEC members who were not confirmed in posts to call on court, since the law under which auspices they were named ensures them a 6-year mandate till 2009.

  The CEC members elected on November 18 Eugen Stirbu as CEC chairman, Renata Lapti as deputy chairwoman and Iurie Ciocan as secretary of CEC.

• Lawmakers also appointed two entitled professors from the law faculty of the State University of Moldova as members of the Superior Council of Magistrates. Vasile Cretu was proposed by majority faction of PCRM while Boris Negru was proposed by opposition factions.

• The Parliament declared the mandate of PCRM Deputy Mihail Camerzan as vacant in connection with his appointment as Moldovan ambassador to Portugal.

State budget law for 2006. Lawmakers have redistributed some sources during examination in the final reading, increasing or reducing different spending, in line with amendments proposed by parliamentary factions and lawmakers, while the basic parameters of the budget were established during voting in the second reading (9.6902 billion lei in revenues/765,4 billion USD; 10.0248 billion lei in spending/791,8 billion USD; 334.6 million lei in deficit/26,43 billion USD).

Law on modification of the Election Code. The document calls for introduction of some technical changes in the summary of provisions of the Election Code on voting and totalling of results of elections. A special procedure will be introduced for maintenance and counting of counterfoils of ballot papers, inclusion of these data in documents issued by electoral bodies. A part of amendments will take effect on January 1, 2006, since a short time is left till the November 27 new local elections.

Decision on actions for implementation of recommendations of the Council of Europe in national legislation

The decision adopted by legislature establishes the schedule of implementation of proposals from resolutions and different recommendations of the Council of Europe (CoE), including the ones adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last October, in Moldovan legislation. The arrears will be eliminated by the mid-2006, in order to seek the withdrawal of the country from monitoring next autumn. The legislative documents, which will be modified or adopted for fulfilment of these tasks, include among others the Regulation of the Parliament; - Law on status of lawmaker in the Parliament; - Law on parties; - Election Code; - Law on status of the Chisinau municipality; - Law on special juridical status of Gagauzia; - legislation on independence of justice; Contravention Code; - Law on freedom of religion; - audiovisual law; - Law on TeleRadio-Moldova Company; - Law on mass media; - Law on meetings; - Law on central public administration; - Law on public service and status of functionaries; - Education Code, etc.

Earlier, the Parliament had passed a decision on insurance of compatibility of draft laws of Moldova with the normative framework of the CoE. Thus, the November 18, 2994 Decision # 377-XV of the Parliament empowers the Justice Ministry to coordinate the process of examination and implementation of recommendations of CoE experts in national legislation. The same decision approves the regulation on mode of delivery of draft laws to the CoE for expertise and implementation of the CoE recommendations.

Law on establishing of indemnities for holders of state orders. The law calls for introduction of a 500-leu indemnity for retirees who hold the title of Hero of Socialist Labour and Labour Glory Order, as well as retirees who are chevaliers of the Order of the Republic.

Law on ratification of the Credit Agreement for Development between the Republic of Moldova and International Development Association (SIDA). A credit worth 8.5 million dollars is expected to be released for a 40-year period, including a 10-year grace period and a 0.75 percent share for the implementation of the Public Finance Management Project in Moldova.

1.3. Interpellations

• Lawmaker Lidia Gutu solicited the Justice Ministry to present complex information on number of unexecuted judgments and measures carried out to solve this problem. According to data, more than 40,000 judgments are not executed at present, with most of them being issued many years ago.

• AMN Deputy Alexandru Lipcan solicited the Government and governmental agent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to report on the number of appeals of Moldovan citizens to the ECHR, list of judgments adopted by ECHR vs Moldova, and the list of persons who issued illegal decisions that served as ground for appealing of Moldovan citizens to the Strasbourg-based court.

• AMN parliamentarian Vasile Balan solicited the Central Electoral Commission and public broadcasting institutions to give explanations in connection with "the lack of interest of mass media for the November 27, 2005 local elections," "insufficient popularization of the need of participation in elections," and establishing of an inadequate schedule for electoral debates on TeleRadio-Moldova.

2. Government

2.1. Reshuffles

• The Moldovan president has relieved Valerian Revenco from the post of minister of health and social protection. Revenco was the eldest (born in 1939) and experienced minister in the acting cabinet, being member of the executive since 1999. At the same time, Valerian Revenco was awarded the highest state order - the Order of the Republic.

  The chief of state named Ion Ababii, who ran the University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics Nicolae Testemiteanu since 1994, to succeed Revenco. Ababii was born in 1944 and he is a doctor habilitatus in medicine and university professor.

• The executive decided to relieve from offices Vitalie Mrug, director-general of the State Administration of Civil Aviation, and Iurie Tabirta, director of the National Agency for Regulation in Telecommunications and Informatics. No reasons of these dismissals are known so far, nor were even the sacked persons notified. The sacked persons complied a priori, with the cabinet decision published in Monitorul Official indicating "their demands", as these offices are held for a certain mandate and executive officials did not carry out researches beforehand to demonstrate that the dismissed functionaries have violated the legislation on their sectors.

  The Moldovan president said in a recent interview with mass media that he is unsatisfied with the existing situation in Air Moldova Company and civil aviation in general, since major financial interests and corruption elements are being registered in this sector. No final decision on a penal case filed against Air Moldova administration, which the Centre for the Struggle against Economic Crimes and Corruption had earlier held and investigated, is know until now.

• The November 19 cabinet sitting passed several important decisions on staff problems:

  Tamara Sumscaia was relieved from the post of head of the National House of Social Insurance for unsatisfactory fulfilment of job-related duties. In particular, it was noted that Sumscaia failed a necessary control on the process of awarding of invalidity categories, so that many people who do not hold the right to these categories received them.

  Valentin Vizant, former secretary of the Central Electoral Commission, was nominated as director of the State Administration of Civil Aviation.

  Nicolae Gumenii, former deputy director of the Customs Service, was appointed to head the governmental administration. Gumenii ran the Privatisation Department in 2000-2003.

2.2. Sittings. Decisions

Implementation of action plan

Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev and executive officials discussed at a working sitting actions needed for implementation of the Government's action programme "Modernisation of country - welfare of people." It was said that Government's policies must be based on creation of conditions aimed to enhance the competitiveness of sectors of national economy and accessibility of domestic goods to foreign markets. The importance of continuing the implementation of reform of regulation framework, taking real actions for protection of competition and granting an increased support for development of small- and medium-sized business as efficient measure for these sectors. According to the prime minister, development of agriculture sector must be achieved through a radical modification of the structure of crops and intensive integration of the branch with processing industry. Tarlev underlined the need to recover the capital market, to enhance competitiveness of services, to increase investments in development of infrastructure.

The indications of prime minister almost reiterated the ones that the chief of states voiced at the October 26 close-door sitting of the cabinet of ministers.

Prevention of bird flu

A sitting convoked by Vasile Tarlev with the participation of factors in charge with epidemic prevention indicated measures for prevention of bird flu in Moldova. Although no case of infection was officially registered until now, the situation is alarming due to extension of this disease in neighbouring countries. From these reasons, quarantine was introduced at all chicken enterprises in Moldova and all measures needed for isolation of fowls from birds of passage were taken. The prime minister ordered a severer supervision of fowl imports, mandatory disinfection of transportation means that enter the country. A specialised laboratory for detection of the bird flu virus worth 300,000 euros, purchased with the financial assistance of the European Union, will be put into operation in Moldova soon.

Implementation of EGPRSP

Vasile Tarlev chaired a new sitting at which the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure, Justice Ministry and Ministry of Information Development reported on implementation of the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (EGPRSP) at sector level for nine months of 2005. The head of the executive indicated positive trends for rise of macroeconomic indicators, but "growth paces are slow" and, therefore, more intensive actions for promotion of policies on industrial sector are needed.

Speaking about justice, the prime minister indicated the need to increase the access of population to justice, to improve quality of existing normative documents and to draft proposals on reduction of judiciary spending, implementation of more efficient measures for corruption reduction.

The information technologies sector in Moldova will be reformed more intensively by speeding up the implementation of the programmes Electronic Moldova and e-Government, so that information and communication technologies be spread "on basis of a single information infrastructure."

New calls for lower interest rates on credits

By sending a letter to the National Bank of Moldova and Association of Banks, the prime minister insisted on reduction of interest rate on bank credits, soliciting the introduction of a 15-percent rate for loans in lei and 9 percent for credits in foreign currency by late 2005. Tarlev bases his demand on requests voiced by businessmen at a forum on September 30 and the need to support ongoing investment projects in Moldova by financial-bank sector.

3. Presidency

Sitting at the Chisinau City Hall

The chief of state and Government leadership attended a sitting at the Chisinau City Hall headquarters. According to the chief of state, the sitting was convoked to "identify together some new approaches and ways for an operative settlement of the most pressing problems of Chisinau residents." Vladimir Voronin indicated among pressing problems the need to decentralise the municipal structures and to delegate some competences to praetor's offices, to reduce number of city hall functionaries. The elaboration of a general development plan for the municipality, a document that "the Government would approve after the city hall" examines it, is one of basic tasks of the local authorities in Chisinau. The chief of state solicited the cabinet of ministers to modify the state budget law for 2005 and to distribute 100 million lei to the Chisinau City Hall for purchase of trolleys and buses. He appreciated the efforts of municipal authorities for a successful implementation of projects such as reconstruction of the Hipodromului street, monument of Stefan cel Mare si Sfint, National Opera square, and modernisation of some districts in the capital.

Representatives of the Chisinau Municipal Council, journalists and certain candidates for the November 27 electoral campaign commented in contradictory on this visit of Vladimir Voronin and statements he delivered on this occasion. Thus, the chief of state was accused of meddling in the electoral campaign, since the candidate to the mayor-general post, Vasile Ursu, also attended the sitting, though he has earlier been relieved from the post of ad-interim mayor-general, while the projects indicated by Moldovan president serve as base for the electoral programme of independent bidder Vasile Ursu.

More power to local authorities

Attending the opening of the seminar "Local Public Administration - Existing Situation and Perspectives, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin described the tackling of some problems related to activity of local public bodies as necessary and opportune, and noted that the existing public administration system "has justified the expectations, providing adequate levers for an efficient direction and coordination of activity in the territory."

As regards tasks, Voronin particularly indicated the need to award more competences to local public administration authorities, so that to allow them to solve efficiently problems of residents from territories administrated in the financial, administrative, economic and social sectors. He solicited the active participation of district and local authorities in implementation of the National Programme Moldovan Village, highlighting the need to create jobs in the territory. According to the chief of state, most of 300,000 new jobs must be created outside of the Chisinau municipality, as result of the land consolidation process.

The chief of state solicited opinions of public administration authorities regarding the opportunity to create a specialised ministry, in line with recommendations of competent international institutions.

Problems regarding introduction of standard VAT for agriculture

Vladimir Voronin has convoked decision makers from Government, Parliament and Presidency to examine problems related to introduction of the standard VAT for agricultural production. Although he opts for equal conditions for all businesses, the chief of state asked that the new share "not to bring losses to agricultural producers or to halt the land consolidation process."

To avoid negative effects of implementation of this decision, urgent measures have been ordered aimed to introduce a norm in the state budget law for 2006 to stipulate the reimbursement of the entire VAT to agricultural producers. However, producers do not support such a mechanism, saying that it works hard because of bureaucratic mechanisms. The almost 2,000 VAT payers in agriculture will have to calculate and pay these amounts to the budget and to seek their reimbursement immediately.

New tasks against corruption

The chief of state said while on a visit to the Centre for the Struggle Against Economic Crimes and Corruption (CCCEC) that this structure must pass from the phase of constitution to a qualitatively new stage, with more exigencies and duties." The increase of activities of analysis and forecast is needed for this purpose, while the results of investigations of this department must determine the further activity of CCCEC.

Also, the president expressed dissatisfaction that "the centre captures only small offenders, while sharks receive no sanctions." Therefore, CCCEC was urged to focus its activity on struggle against big corruption among heads of ministries and departments, inspection and law enforcement bodies, and even the structures of the Parliament.

The chief of state voiced a similar requirement at a recent sitting of the Information and Security Service.

II. Transnistrian Problem

• The intensification of Romanian diplomacy efforts with regard to the Transnistrian problem noted in the past weeks has been maintained during the period covered here. During an interview with the Radio Free Europe, the Romanian Foreign Minister, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, stated that the presence of Romania will be an attempt to "counterbalance the format of the dialogue in which the mediators - OSCE, Russia and Ukraine, discuss plans that do not fully correspond to Moldova's expectations". Mihai Razvan Ungureanu also said that the solution to the Transnistrian problem needs to be found "within the margins of the Moldovan statehood, in the formula of an extended autonomy, free of any federative or confederative speculation." With reference to his recent meeting with the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, Ungureanu said that Transnistria was among the issues tackled and the two examined the possibilities of coordinating US and Romania's positions with the upcoming EU border monitoring mission. Ungureanu underlined that his meeting with Condoleezza Rice took place after his visit to Moscow where "Romania's right to think strategically at the eastern borders of the EU and NATO had been recognised, as well as Romania's strategic interest towards the security of its most proximate neighbour".

  Following the recent resumption of negotiations on Transnistria, Romania drafted a wide programme of contacts with representatives of the mediators and conflict sides. The programme was launched with the visit of the Moldovan Reintegration Minister, Vasile Sova, to Bucharest on 3-4 November. On that occasion, the Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said that Bucharest is interested to establish a permanent channel of communication with Chisinau in the Transnistrian problem and is ready to support Moldova on the basis of its special relations with the EU and the US.

• On 8 November Bucharest was visited by the Russian Foreign Minister, Serghei Lavrov, who also had a meeting with his Romanian counterpart. After the meeting, Lavrov told the press that the presence of Russian militaries in the Transnistrian region is a positive moment. According to him, Russia stopped the withdrawal of its weapons from Transnistria in 2003 because Chisinau changed its position in the negotiations, and alluded that the withdrawal will be resumed only when a solution to the Transnistrian conflict is identified that would suit Russia. At the same time, Lavrov reconfirmed Russia's support for the Yushcenko settlement plan, but said that Russia is now elaborating the principles contained in the plan in the form of some "unofficial proposals", which Lavrov also called a "settlement roadmap". We would like to remind the readers that after the resumptions of negotiations in end October, the Russian Defence Minister, Serghei Ivanov, said that the Russian army will stay in Moldova to "maintain peace" until a political solution to the Transnistrian conflict is identified. The problem of Russian military presence in Transnistria was also discussed during the visit of an official Moldovan delegation to the NATO headquarters on 10 November. According to a communique of the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, NATO states representatives supported Moldova's position that the complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Russian military from Transnistria will create the necessary conditions for the ratification of the adapted Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. The problem of ratification of this treaty is likely to feature on the agenda of the OSCE Ministerial Summit to take place on 5-6 December in Ljubliana. According to some observers, this year's OSCE Summit risks to fail for the third time in a row to adopt a final document due to the disagreement between Russia and other OSCE states with regard to its military presence in Moldova and Georgia.

• During the same period, Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Boris Tarasiuk, paid a visit to Bucharest. According to Mediafax, Romania and Ukraine expressed on the occasion their hope that the EU border mission due to start on 1 December will be successful and will be deployed without any administrative obstacles. The two ministers called the enlargement of the negotiations mechanism by the adherence of the US and EU as observers as a "tactical victory" of Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. Ungureanu reasserted the importance of a genuine democratisation of the Transnistrian region in line with international standards. According to him, the international community will not recognise the elections planned by the Transnistrian leadership for 11 December because "in a democratic process, elections are not a premise, but a consequence". Ungureanu also stressed the importance of a democratically oriented civil society and invited the representatives in the negotiations process to pay more attention to this issue.

• In the meantime, in Tiraspol preparations for the elections to the regional legislative body, the Supreme Soviet, are proceeding. One cannot neglect the demonstrative manner in which the Transnistrian authorities are trying to induce the impression of a free and fair electoral process. According to some official Transnistrian sources, about 200 candidates have been registered to run for the 43 deputy seats. On 16 November the candidates were distributed free of charge air time on official TV and radio stations, as well as advertisement space in the official newspaper "Pridnestrovie". In addition, the Transnistrian authorities have made arrangements to issue provisional IDs to Transnistrian residents to ensure satisfactory turnout. On the candidates' side, the public movement "Obnovlenie", one of the two main electoral competitors, reportedly supported by the Sheriff Company and in opposition to the pro-Smirnov movement "Respublica", issued on 8 November a statement entitled "Clean elections, fair elections, recognised elections" which appeals to all political forces from the region to engage in a constructive dialogue and fair competition and take a correct attitude both towards each other and towards the voters.

III. Foreign Relations

The Republic of Moldova - Council of Europe

• The forth report released recently by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE) recommends Moldova to create a ministry of local administration and indicates a number of shortcomings related to decentralisation and financial autonomy of local authorities, as well as excessive influence of central authorities on public administration in the territory, judiciary persecution of some chiefs of local public administration. The recommendations call for adoption of a new law on status of the Chisinau municipality only after the Council of Europe makes an expertise of this document, as well as for presentation of a report on implementation of CLRAE recommendations by a Moldovan high-ranking official in charge with local administration sector. The representatives of Moldova in CLRAE said that some objectives from this report are exaggerated, while certain generalisations are based on distinct cases.

• According to the final document adopted at the 115th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the complete fulfilment of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the Ilascu Group case rests with individual and collective responsibility of member states of the Council of Europe. Execution of the ECHR judgment will be a priority of the Committee of Ministers for next six months, when Romania will hold the presidency. According to mass media, the representative of Moldova at the meeting, Deputy Foreign and European Integration Minister Eugenia Chistruga, has solicited the Committee of Ministers to take measures "in order to reduce the terms for examination of individual appeals to the ECHR and reformation of the mechanism for execution of judgments."

The Republic of Moldova - European Union

• Cesare De Montis, chief of the European Commission Delegation in Chisinau, said that though the European Union is open to enlargement in continuation, the situation is sensible, especially because several European countries have turned down the E.U. Constitution, as well as due to a number of problems faced by European community. According to the European diplomat, the complete implementation of the Moldova-E.U. Plan will have a significant contribution to the process of integration of Moldova, since it will comply with standards of the community and will enhance its entry chances this way.

• Starting January 1, 2006, Moldova will obtain an advanced system of preferences called "GSP plus" in the commercial relations with the E.U. The new system means lower customs duties for goods exported from Moldova to the E.U. members. At the same time, Moldovan authorities negotiate an asymmetrical trade agreement, which calls for the unilateral opening of the E.U. market for Moldovan goods. This topic is to be tackled at the next meeting of the World Trade Organisation in the mid-December.

• In 2006, Poland intends to increase the funds for support of Moldova in implementing the Moldova-E.U. Action Plan. The Polish authorities have allocated about 250,000 euros for this purpose through different programmes until now and an intergovernmental cooperation agreement, which calls for release of a 15-milion-dollar credit to the Moldovan Government for development projects, is being negotiated.

• Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and Moldovan Premier Vasile Tarlev signed a joint letter to the European Commission on November 16, seeking financing for readjustment of Moldova's energy network to the Romanian energy system. At present, distribution and transportation grids from Romania do not allow supplies needed to cover the needs of Moldova and a network interconnection project is needed.

The Republic of Moldova - Romania

A number of issues regarding mutual cooperation between Moldova and Romania have been examined during a visit of Vasile Tarlev to Bucharest. In particular, the sides discussed problems regarding:

• Supply of electricity for Moldova's needs by Romanian energy enterprises. An agreement signed on this occasion calls for functioning of a thermal station in Braila to produce electricity for Moldova on basis of natural gas supplied by our country. The Romanian side hopes to recover within one year its debt from Moldova for electricity supplied in the past years, with the debt being estimated at 30 million dollars.

• Granting of methodical assistance for acceleration of the process of assimilation of European acquis by Moldova. Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said that the Romanian authorities will provide all documents which are part of the community acquis that Moldova needs for adjustment of national legislation.

• Introduction of a simplified visa regime for Moldova. The Romanian authorities have promised to introduce a facility and simplified visa regime for Moldovan citizens who intend to cross the border with Romania.

• Increase of Romanian investments in Moldova. Vasile Tarlev invited Romanian businessmen to use the possibilities to invest in Moldova more decisively. Tarlev indicated the reforms regarding revision of regulation framework and legislation on protection of investments, considerable reduction of taxes as positive signals that give an impulse to this process. The construction of a power station in Orhei, creation of an enterprise for bioenergetics processing of agricultural waste, extension of wholesale trade networks, etc. were mentioned among possible investment projects that could be implemented in the near future.

The Republic of Moldova - Russian Federation

• The patriarch of Moscow and entire Russia, Alexy II, was awarded honours similar to the ones established for chiefs of state, while on a visit to Chisinau. The patriarch was met and accompanied to the airport by the entire top leadership of Moldova: the president, speaker, prime minister and other officials, a situation without precedent in the diplomatic experience of Moldova. The same officials participated in almost all ceremonies included in the visit agenda (divine services, ordainment of the Nisporeni bishop, awarding at the presidency headquarters, visit to the Capriana Monastery). The Honour Guard was lined up for official ceremonies at the presidency headquarters. Alexy II expressed gratitude to the Moldovan leadership for supporting the Orthodox Church and transmitted best regards to the Moldovan president from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who "is very satisfied with what he has discussed with Vladimir Voronin at the CIS summit in Kazan and hopes that the agreements established at this meeting would serve as ground for a further development of bilateral relations." The sides also discussed the Transnistrian issue, with Alexy II saying that the Transnistrian problem must be settled with the respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova. Once he returned to Russia, Alexy II sent a letter to Vladimir Voronin, thanking him for reception and special support of the Moldovan Orthodox Church.

• Paying an official visit to Bucharest, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov invited all the sides interested in a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict "to support a continued presence of the Russian contingent in the region." Lavrov reiterated that the presence of Russian military in Transnistria has a positive role, as they halt an open conflict between the two sides. He noted that Moscow will resume the process of withdrawal of Russian troops and ammunition from the Transnistrian region "at the same time with relief of political negotiations on conflict resolution." The Moldovan leadership has rejected statements of this kind that the Russian defence minister had earlier delivered, saying that the presence of Russian troops in the territory of our country is a "political coverage for Transnistrian authorities" and a violation of the 1999 OSCE Summit agreement, though which Russia had assumed the commitment to withdraw its troops and ammunition from Moldova.

• Vyacheslav Kovalenko, chief of the department for CIS affairs in the Moscow Foreign Ministry, has recently delivered a series of statements on Moldovan-Russian relations, saying that their improvement "depends on Moldova alone, since Russia would like to see Moldova independent, neutral and demilitarised, and it is ready to interact with Moldova on international, economic and commercial arena." According to the Russian diplomat, the problems in relations between the two countries do not confine themselves to the Transnistrian issue alone, they are also related to "respect for rights of minorities and Russian language in Moldova, attitude of Chisinau towards NATO, participation in GUAM, and others."

• The Moldovan delegation to the Vienna-based Permanent Council has accused the Russian Federation of economic blackmail in the context of the Transnistrian conflict. The economic pressures are applied on Moldova through the recent illicit privatisation of the Cuciurgan power station by the Russian state-owned company RAO EAS and electricity turnoffs on the right bank of the Dniester river on November 9. The Moldovan diplomacy considers that these actions of the Russian authorities and their representatives at energy enterprises must be tackled on the international arena.

Studies, Analyses, Comments

Strategic consensus vs opposition regarding governing mode
Sergiu Grossu, 22 November, 2005

"National consensus" envisages only strategic problems for Moldova - European integration, settlement of the Transnistrian conflict and democratisation of society

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