Press
TIRASPOL LEADERS SHOULD DISMANTLE BARRICADES – LEANCA
Tiraspol leaders have set up huge barricades, and would not wish to come out, though it’s really high time to, Moldovan Deputy Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iurie Leanca stated in his interview with influential Kommersant newspaper of Moscow.
He reminded that the new Moldovan authorities, unlike their predecessors, have undertaken quite much for Transnistria over last 8 months, for instance sent vaccines against swine flu, signed an agreement with international donors stipulating that 15% international funding will go to Transnistria. The Chisinau authorities also requested suspension of the European Union’s travel ban on Transnistrian officials.
“Besides this, Chisinau and Tiraspol working group, formed to build up trust between the sides, have begun their meetings, discussing confidence-building measures. Despite this, Moldova-made goods are levied a 100% tax when exported to Transnistria, members of the Moldovan Parliament and Government are demanded to apply for special permits when they go to Transnistria. Also, our citizens come across various obstacles at entering the Transnistrian region. So far, we can’t see any response steps from Tiraspol. But this does not mean Chisinau will revise its line. Simply, we would like very much to see that Tiraspol revises its old mentality and understands at last that times have changed, and that the political weather has become warmer”, said the Moldovan Deputy Premier.
In his words, Tiraspol has always been able to find pretexts to reject whatever proposals coming from Chisinau.
For instance, “They may come to dislike our course for European integration, so they may well stand up and say, “Our road is different”. In Moldova, state power changed 4 times over last 20 years, whereas Transnistria continues to be governed by people having in their minds the stereotypes of the 1990s.”
Leanca remarked that Transnistrian economic operators are in much better economic conditions than analogous companies in the mainland Moldova because they pay much less for the Russian natural gas, and this influences the cost of production.
“We must put all this into order to let market economy principles work. To achieve this, we need to talk to Moscow and persuade the Russian authorities that it is in Gazprom’s interests to resolve the gas payment problem. I can’t understand why one buyer must pay while the other buyer must not. Both Gazprom and Moldovagaz suffer from this”, said the Moldovan foreign minister, remarking that Transnistria’s gas arrears have already exceeded US$ 2.3 billion.
He reaffirmed the Chisinau’s stance: the format of the peacekeeping operation on the Dniester ought to be changed not upon conflict settlement, but presently.
