The EU to Finance Transnistria Settlement

Tiraspol will only agree with the recognition of the independence The European Union will allocate about 10 million euros for the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict, TV8.md reports quoting the EU representative in Chisinau Peter Michalko. Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova confirmed this citing the project on confidence-building measures betwen the two banks of the Dniester. Pridnestrovian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky noted that he heard and saw nothing as well as noone discussed with him the issue about the money for the settlement. He stressed that the settlement should be understood as recognition of Transnistria as a state. The conference “Transnistrian dialogue” was held in Chisinau, where, according to its organizers, the ways of settlement of the Transnistrian conflict were discussed. The Dniester checkpoint will not disappear in the near future, and it will take decades to resolve the Transnistrian conflict – this is the opinion of some experts from the left Bank of the Dniester. They add that neither society nor politicians are ready for radical actions to quickly solve the problem. The EU and the OSCE representatives claim that the authorities are taking, though small, but concrete steps to overcome the conflict, TV8.md reports. “In fact, people are not ready for radical actions. In my view, the lasting conflict clearly reflects the situation. Not only the elite, but the society is not ready for its unfreezing. There is no effective way that could warn us against the aggravation of the situation”, said the representative of Tiraspol and the Executive Director of SIGMA-EXPERT Elena Bobkova. She noted that one of the reasons for the protracted conflict was that both regions had developed as separate societies for almost 30 years. The other is management and policy which are different. Meanwhile, European officials say that the Republic of Moldova needs dialogue, and the problem needs to be solved gradually. “Gura Bîcului-Bîcioc Bridge opening demonstrated that the sides could find practical solutions.  And this time they reflected this not only on paper but also in practice”, – said the head of the OSCE mission to Moldova, Claus Neukirch. The head of the EU delegation to Moldova Peter Michalko said: “Over the next three years, we will allocate about 10 million euros to support efforts to resolve this conflict”. One of the ways to resolve the conflict is the implementation of the project “Transnistrian dialogue”, which united civil society from both banks of the Dniester. “We have not come to change the format of the negotiations. We do not need to focus on defining political decisions. Our mission is to create a platform for open and pragmatic dialogue”, said Andrey Popov, head of the Moldovan Institute for strategic initiatives. The Transnistrian dialogue project was launched at the end of 2018. It was attended by more than 40 experts, journalists and representatives of civil society from both banks of the Dniester in order to facilitate the process of settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. It was a continuation of another project – to strengthen confidence-building measures on the two banks of the Dniester, which has been successfully implemented for several years. However, it was not possible to find out how the EU funds intended for the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict would be spent. The EU delegation referred to the coordination of the issue by a special structure in Transnistria. The President of the unrecognized republic Vadim Krasnoselsky told “NG” that heard nothing about money of the EU and nobody discussed problem with him. “And if the question arises, there will be some specific projects such as the construction of a bridge across the Dniester, the Supreme Council of Transnistria will run this issue”, – said Krasnoselsky. He also drew attention to the fact that “the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict should mean the international recognition of Transnistria as a state”. And we should not talk that ransnistria broke free of Moldova, said Krasnoselsky: “It was Moldova which broke free of the Moldavian SSR, and we remained there, and Transnistria can be considered as the legal successor of the MSSR”. At the same time, the talks of the parties, including in the "5+2" format (Moldova, Transnistria – the parties, Russia, Ukraine, OSCE – mediators, the EU and the U.S. – observers), the head of Transnistria considers it useful – in terms of improving the lives of the population of the two banks of the Dniester. Meanwhile, Chisinau is forcing the reintegration of the eastern region, which has been living independently of Moldova for more than a quarter of a century. According to the President of Moldova Igor Dodon, his advisers discussed the concept of settlement of the Transnistrian problem with representatives of Russia, the European Union and the United States, reports TASS. “I believe that things [in this issue] can move quite quickly. I believe that this region could be a good example of resolving frozen conflicts for Russia, the European Union and the United States. And we are close to a solution”, Dodon said earlier in an interview with N4. At the same time he noticed: "The concept says nothing about federalization, which is much speculated today. At the heart of [a single state] there is a balanced foreign policy and an internationally recognized status of permanent neutrality... without NATO, foreign troops, etc. This concept was very well received in the East and West”, the President said. But, according the source in the Transnistrian administration, “the payment for the neutrality of Moldova can be the withdrawal of the Operational Group of Russian Forces with the subsequent liquidation of the peacekeeping mission on the Dniester”. Source: ng.ru