by Vladimir Socor, The Jamestown Foundation

With Russian troops on their way out from two bases in Georgia, the international politics of CFE Treaty ratification focuses increasingly on Moldova. The OSCE’s Permanent Council-Forum for Security Cooperation special joint meeting on May 23, with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov’s participation, reflected this development. As Russian officials from President Vladimir Putin on down threaten to scuttle the treaty unless Western countries ratify it, Moldova may come under growing pressures from now on.

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Edward Lucas
Economist.com

A glimpse inside Transdniestria

EMBARRASSINGLY sleazy, expensive and indefensible—but ours, and we are bloody well going to hang on to it. That was West Berlin during the cold war, seen through NATO eyes. And it may also explain why Russia has supported Transdniestria, a narrow strip of land on the eastern bank of the Dniestr river that has broken away from Moldova, the poorest and most demoralised country in Europe. Read full article

Andrei Popov, Foreign Policy Association of Moldova: In the last days of May, Transnistrian leadership apparently changed its stance on customs issue, declaring that it will no longer stop local enterprises from registering in Moldova on the basis of new rules in force since March 3. Moreover, senior representatives of the region’s administration made several statements encouraging local economic operators to undergo permanent registration that would give them Moldovan certificates of origin, and consequently, the possibility to benefit from trade preferences. At the first glance, such a policy shift after months of staunchly rejecting this regime might seem (and is widely perceived in Moldova) as a major victory of Chisinau, Ukraine and the West over Tiraspol and Moscow, towards fulfilling a united customs space of the Republic of Moldova. Read full article

Andras Racz, Teleki Institute, Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, Budapest: This article attempts to give a preliminary analysis of the EU Border Assistance Mission (BAM) launched in December 2005 in order to strengthen the control of the Transnistrian section of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. The main structures and objectives of the mission are discussed as well as the political and operational concerns related to its efficiency. Read full article

Nicu Popescu, Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels: Failing an offer of accession to its eastern neighbours in the medium term, the EU should and can offer stronger CFSP engagement. Promoting the security aspect of ENP can start with the Transnistrian conflict in Moldova. The focus of EU policy should be to alter the context in which the conflict is situated and sustained, rather than hoping for an early agreement on the status of Transnistria. The primary objective should be to increase Moldova’s ‘attractiveness’ while decreasing the benefits of maintaining the current status quo. The Transnistrian separatist project is to a large degree based on false economic arguments for independence. Undermining these claims will be central to efforts to reunify the country. The EU has already appointed an EU Special Representative for Moldova and launched an EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine that would monitor the border between the two countries, including the section controlled by the secessionist authorities of Transnistria. EU border monitoring is necessary, but is not a sustainable long-term solution. The EU should help Moldova strengthen its own capacity to control the Transnistrian section of the border by launching an EU Police Mission to Moldova. Building a sustainable context for the resolution of the conflict in Transnistria can be achieved through greater support to Moldova’s Europeanisation and implementation of the ENP Action Plan, more active support to democracy inside Transnistria and greater engagement with Ukraine under CFSP. Read full article

Natalya Belitser, Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, Kyiv, Ukraine : Formally, in the self-proclaimed “Transnistrian Moldovan Republic” there are certain signs of the existence of “third sector” structures and groupings, usually perceived as the evidence of emerging or developing civil society in post-totalitarian transition countries. Indeed, about 600 local public organisations got official registration by spring-2005. This statistics, together with the assertions like “here in Transnistria… we have a multiparty political system functioning from the very beginning, private media independent from the state, freely operating oppositional social and political structures…” aim at creating an image of a “modern, democratic, European state” – meaning exactly the region almost unanimously characterised as a “black hole of Europe”. Read full article