Promotion of an eff ective foreign policy
5.2. Relations between the Republic of Moldova and Romania
EVOLUTIONS: 2 SITUATION: 1 PERSPECTIVES: T1
160 Relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova after 2004 – chronology, http://www.interlic.md/Politic/3409.html.
161 Main Political Treaty with Romania, „Case study: 100 most pressing problems of Moldova in 2006”, Igor Munteanu, Chisinau, 2006.
Promotion of an effective foreign policy
diplomacy continued to assert its support for the process of European integration of the Republic of Moldova, including by off ering the Acquis Communautaire translated by the Romanian party. Nonetheless, the Mol-dovan offi cials maintained their criticism of Romania, evoking various reasons such as linguistic, identity, historic, religious, and even threats to the territorial security of Moldova. Th e request to open two consul-ates on the territory of Moldova to facilitate the issue of visas for Moldovans was fi nally rejected. In the same manner, Chisinau criti-cised the initiative to facilitate the process of reacquiring/granting Romanian citizenship.
During 2007, the Moldovan side launched a number of attacks towards Romania. Presi-dent Vladimir Voronin condemned Roma-nia for not recognising legally the Moldovan ethnicity on the Romanian territory, launch-ing the idea of supportlaunch-ing the “Moldovans”
in Romania. In addition, Chisinau requested all its diplomatic missions to avoid using in their activity the term “Romanian language”.
At the same time, the Moldovan diplomacy intensifi ed its eff orts to convince the inter-national community of the necessity to stop the aggressive Romanian policy against the Moldovan identity and statehood. Another action designed to limit the infl uence and position of Romania in Moldova is the in-terdiction for the Romanian delegation to enter the Moldovan territory, although it was invited to attend the Chisinau city fest. Likewise, in order to damage the im-age of Romania, a diplomat from the Ro-manian embassy in Chisinau was accused of corruption. Another argument sparked around the Common EU Visa Centre, the Moldovan party rejecting the Romanian off er to open and manage the activity of such a centre at its embassy in Chisinau162. Th e debate around the political and border treaties is aggravating. Th e Romanian party opposes inclusion in the said documents of any reference to the delimitation of borders aft er the World War II. At the same time, Moldova insists on such a clause which,
in its view, is a guarantee of the Moldovan statehood that would reduce the chances of Romania to ever achieve reunifi cation. An-other action against Romania is the end of re-broadcasting the Romanian TV channel TVR 1, which was one the three TV chan-nels with national coverage in the Republic of Moldova. As a result, the rural population was deprived of an important information source, which was an alternative to “ORT”
and “Moldova 1”.
Chisinau accused Romania of support-ing the decision of the Romanian Ortho-dox Church to re-open its dioceses on the canonical territory of the Archdiocese of Moldova, subordinated to the Russian Or-thodox Church. In this respect, President Voronin stated that if the position of offi cial Moldova is ignored, the latter could decide to not observe its commitments towards the Council of Europe in relation to the Arch-diocese of Basarabia (a step that could trig-ger political and legal consequences diffi cult to imagine)163. Th e Republic of Moldova as-serted its position again when it signed the agreements with the European community on visa regime facilitation and on readmis-sion, draft ed also in “Moldovan language”.
Although previously Romania stated that it would not sign any documents containing the term “Moldovan language”, the Romanian offi cials in Brussels did not obstruct the con-clusion of the mentioned agreements. In the European practice there is already one docu-ment signed in the Moldovan language, con-cluded before Romania joined the EU (the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Moldova of 1994), however, Bucharest was assured that this case would not consti-tute a precedent for the future164. In Decem-ber 2007, during an offi cial visit to Brussels, the President of the Republic of Moldova accused Romania of treating Moldova with a “permanent aggression”. One of the tough-est actions against Romania was declaring two diplomats of the Romanian Embassy as persona non-grata in the Republic of Moldo-va165. Chisinau’s behaviour can be explained by the forthcoming pre-election period and the necessity of improving relations with the Russian Federation, an aim which, accord-ing to the perception of current Moldovan leaders, can only be achieved by ruining the relations with Romania.
162 „Common Visa Centre, between convergence and divergence”, Denis Cenusa, www.expert-grup.org.
163 „The Council of Europe rejects the scandalous statements of Voronin”, 12.12.2007, www.presa.md.
164 Lazar Comanescu, Romanian Ambassador to EU: „It was an exception”, http://www.romanialibera.ro/a108634/a-fost-o-exceptie.html.
165 „Chisinau declared two diplomats of the Romanian embassy persona non-grata”, http://www.basarabeni.ro/stiri.php?action=read&pagina=1349.
Promotion of an effective foreign policy Accusations against Romania seriously
damaged the public perceptions of the Mol-dovan-Romanian relations (Figure 27). If the Moldovan-Romanian dialog continues to decline, this index could drop even lower, damaging thus normal neighbour relations between the two countries.
Risks
A continuing increase of hostility in the Mol-dovan-Romanian relations can lead to the dis-ruption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Further politicization of the religious issue could trigger violent confl icts, while the failure to ob-serve the commitments towards the Council of Europe related to the Archdiocese of Basarabia might result in Moldova’s exclusion from this body, which in turn will not allow Moldova to pursue the process of European integration.
Deliberate aggravation of relations with Roma-nia could deteriorate also the economic and tra-de relations with Romania, the main tratra-de part-ner of the Republic of Moldova in the EU, and undermine the chances of European integration of Moldova. Likewise, the worsening of relations with Romania could undermine the EU Nei-ghbourhood Policy in relation to Moldova.
Th e Romanian party should understand that fai-lure to sign the main political and border treaties generates diffi culties in strengthening the Mol-dovan statehood and solving the Transnistrian confl ict. On the other hand, impeding the gran-ting of Romanian citizenship and/or visas by the Moldovan side will aff ect in a negative manner communication and mobility between the Mol-dovan citizens and other Europeans.
Recommendations
Establishing constructive and effi cient discussi-ons regarding the conclusion of the main politi-cal and border treaties; setting up fi rm deadlines for amending, complementing, modifying the substance of these documents, as well as for their conclusion and ratifi cation by both parties.
De-politicising and/or removing from the politi-cal agenda of bilateral relations issues related to religion, national identity, history and language.
Application by both parties of a special approach in relation to granting or non-granting of citi-zenship, by signing just and fair bilateral agree-ments.
Complete fulfi lment by Moldova of its commit-ments towards the Council of Europe in relation to the Archdiocese of Basarabia.
Improving and bringing to normal the political and diplomatic rhetoric by both parties, abando-ning any non-diplomatic and scandalous acts in inter-state relations.
Unconditionally and mutually respecting the re-levant constitutional acts.
Formulation and adoption by the Republic of Moldova of an updated foreign policy concept, in a friendly and open manner towards Roma-nia, corresponding and harmonizing with pro-visions of the Romanian foreign policy concept.
Developing sustainable projects of various types on the Moldovan-Romanian border.
Establishing a common cultural space and de-velop preferential cultural relations between Ro-mania and Moldova.
Using effi ciently the European potential of Ro-mania in order to facilitate the process of Eu-ropean integration of Moldova (including by sharing or adopting the translation of Acquis Communautaire etc.).
Establishing a common diplomatic school to enhance the Moldovan diplomacy and inspire a new European dimension to it.
Intensifying bilateral relations as regards the achievement and promotion of common and particular interests, without damaging their image on the national, regional and internatio-nal stage.
Source: Barometers of Public Opinion.
Figure 27 Share of population considering that the Moldovan-Romanian relations are good or very good, % of total
Promotion of an effective foreign policy
Diagnosis
Th e relations of Moldova with Ukraine are very diff erent from those with Romania.
Due to the common historical past of the two countries in the USSR, their relations have shaped in a totally diff erent way as compared to the other neighbour of Moldova. Ukraine has no disagreements of historical, linguistic, religious or identity nature with Moldova, and such subjects have never been present on the agenda of political relations between the two countries. Th ose issues emerging in the economy or energy areas never acquired a political dimension166. Th e only pressing issue on the political agenda in the bilateral rela-tions is related to the Transnistrian confl ict.
Moldova is aware of the fact that the control over 470 km of border can only be ensured through and with the support of the Ukrain-ian side167. In this respect, with Victor Ius-cenko coming to power in Ukraine, a new era in the Moldovan-Ukrainian relations started.
Although there are no politicised is-sues on the agenda of Moldovan-Ukrain-ian relations, certain sensitive issues are still present. Disputes around the Giurgiulesti terminal, hydro-energy facilities on Nistru river, Chisinau-Kyiv air fl ight, all these in-fl uenced in a negative way the population confi dence towards the Moldovan-Ukrain-ian relations (Figure 28).
In 2005-2007, the Moldovan-Ukrai-nian relations focus on ensuring a control over the common border, in particular on the Transnistrian segment and cooperation to solve the issue of the Eastern region of Moldova168. In this respect, Chisinau and Kyiv asked the European Commission for support to manage the common border.
EU decided to support the two countries in the area of control management over the Transnistrian sector of the common border.
Moldova and Ukraine asked also the Euro-pean Commission for assistance to mark the Moldovan-Ukrainian border and mod-ernise customs. On 30 November 2005, the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) has been launched.
Ukraine, however, does not observe fully the provisions of the Agreement on the new customs regime over the imports and exports of goods (of December 2005)169, pro-viding for a more accurate control over the circulation of goods to and from Moldova170. Ukraine adopted an ambiguous position re-garding the observance of the agreements related to the Eastern rayons of the Republic of Moldova. Th is is generated by the politi-cal instability and internal fi ght between the pro-Russian and pro-Western political forc-es, as well as signifi cant infl uence by Rus-sia on the political life of Ukraine. Due to the geopolitical aspects of the Transnistrian confl ict, Ukraine has a particular interest in the region, where some 65,000 people have Ukrainian passports. Th is context makes it diffi cult to take any consistent decisions and actions in the Transnistrian problem.
Nevertheless, due to the special atten-tion paid by the EU to the Border Assistance Mission and resolution of the Transnistrian confl ict, Moldova and Ukraine have been