Presently, Moldova is closer to a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict then ever before, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin stated at the 15th Central European Summit held in Ohrid (Macedonia) last Friday.

Addressing the forum, President Voronin stressed that for Moldova, the working out of a lasting solution to this political conflict is possible only in the format of 5+2 [Moldova and Transnistria as the conflicting sides, with Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as international mediators; and the European Union and United States as observers], which plays a crucial role in the settlement process and may serve an example for resolving other such ‘frosted’ conflicts by using only peaceful means.

In his words, Moldova’s integration into the European Union would promote the Transnistrian conflict settlement. For Moldova, EU enlargement is not a challenge but, on the contrary, is rather an opportunity for a prosperous development of the country and its “re-integration into a common Europe. Moldova has always been and will always be a European country, which, despite historic developments, has managed to save its cultural traditions and national identity – the kind of values which will hopefully be brought back into the natural area of European multi-culturalism and poly-ethnicity”.

Voronin said that European Union will be enlarging through accession of all European countries that really want to achieve this objective.

“European integration is a first-priority objective for Moldova, and concrete steps were made last several years to achieve the objective. Last 3 years, ourselves and our European Union partners have implemented an ambitious document – an individual Action Plan, whose realization was eventually positively assessed”, said Vladimir Voronin.

Together with the European Union, he said, Moldova has realized a number of projects new for the European experience such as, e.g., the opening of a Visa Application Center in Chisinau, the organization of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), and promotion of a Moldo-European dialog on partnership and mobility.

Voronin voiced hope that after the implementation of the EU-Moldova European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan, the European Union will initiate very shortly the consideration of a new legal frame for interaction with the Republic of Moldova, and that by late 2008 a mandate on negotiations will be adopted that will provide a phased access to four EU freedoms.

“To achieve this goal, Moldova keeps on joining European standards in all spheres, standing for a democratic development of the republic in a European democratic way”, said the Moldovan President. // Infotag



Publication date: 06 May 2008   

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