CHISINAU READY TO SIGN COMPROMISE VARIANT OF BRATISLAVA PROTOCOL – ALEXANDRU FLENCHEA

Moldovan Special Representative for Transnistria negotiations, Deputy Prime Minister for Country Reintegration Alexandru Flenchea has stated Chisinau’s preparedness to sign a compromise variant of the Protocol of the Bratislava round of negotiations.

Flenchea said at a press briefing in Chisinau on Thursday: “At the forthcoming meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council to be held in Bratislava on December 5-6, we will state our readiness to sign a compromise variant of the Protocol on the results of the 5+2 format negotiations held in Bratislava last early October. The daily work on the Protocol, which we then failed to agree on and sign, continued after the Bratislava round of talks, and after the Bavaria conference of early November. So, presently Chisinau stands ready to sign the compromise variant of the Protocol, and now the word is after Tiraspol”, said Flenchea.

He voiced regret that after the Bratislava meeting, there followed some statements and estimates from Transnistria’s behalf, “though the negotiation stakeholders had agreed to refrain from public statements”.

The Deputy Premier said that, on the whole, the Sides have agreed upon a final version of the Protocol with the exception of one point pertaining to priorities in the conflict settlement process for a forthcoming short-term period.

“We have outlined 4 priorities that are known to our international partners and to Tiraspol colleagues. Firstly: provision of free movement in the Security Zone because citizens must have the right and possibility to easily move from one side of the Dniester River to the other. Secondly: human rights and their observance. Thirdly: the provision of conditions for a normal work of the Latin-script Moldova-administered schools in Transnistria. Here, we mean primarily an adequate provision of all the 8 such schools with proper premises. And the 4th priority pertains to facilitation of running trade between the Dniester sides, prevention of smuggling, harmonization of tax standards and customs tariffs”, said Alexandru Flenchea.

In his words, both in Bratislava and Bavaria, Tiraspol was insisting on other priorities.

“We stated readiness to discuss them, but that meant that the Chisinau-proposed priorities would not be included into the final variant of the Protocol. In subsequent days and weeks, the Slovakian OSCE Presidency and OSCE Special Representative on Transnistria Franco Frattini presented a compromise formula, which the Sides can yet discuss. Chisinau has already stated openly that it is ready to consider the entire spectrum of economic, social and humanitarian questions. And yesterday, we approved the compromise variant, and notified all the 5+2 negotiating format parties about it”, said the Moldovan Deputy Premier. The format brings together Moldova and Transnistria as the conflict sides, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as international mediators (5); and the European Union and the United States as international observers (2).

Alexandru Flenchea stressed that there is time yet for signing the Protocol either before or right after the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Bratislava, “so Tiraspol has a chance yet for approving the document”.