The Trend to Revitalize the European Union's Role in Moldova and Local Challenges

Sergiu CEBAN The European Union seeks to revive the Eastern Partnership project to restore its positions in the post-Soviet space, latching on to Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia President of the European Council Charles Michel paid a brief visit to Moldova yesterday. In Chisinau, the EU representative held only one official meeting with President Maia Sandu. Following the meeting, the head of state stated the republic's desire to continue rapprochement with the "European family" as part of the Eastern Partnership. Charles Michel, in turn, said that he had arrived to convey a clear message of EU's support to Moldova and Maia Sandu personally in the fight against corruption and reform process. Sandu's January visit to Brussels marked a phased reset of bilateral relations and a gradual restoration of the EU's positions in Moldova. Moreover, the accession of a new president in Moldova has additionally stimulated the EU in the current rethinking process of its role in the east and efficiency of the ongoing policy. One way or another, but the EU Ambassador to Moldova, Peter Michalko, has become noticeably more active in recent months, and his personal assessments of the internal political situation, including specific Moldovan politicians and state institutions, sound more and more blatant. Quitting the wait-and-see mode and energetic involvement in Chisinau affairs influenced the frequency of contacts of the European diplomat. In this regard, he almost "challenged" his American counterpart by increasing the intensity of meetings with Moldovan stakeholders, including ahead of the Constitutional Court's recent decision. It seems that such diplomatic excitement and targeted criticism from Mr. Michalko, who called it alarming that the people involved in the theft of a billion are participating in the formation of the Moldovan government, provoked the main recipients, PSRM and the Shor party, to urge the chief of the EU delegation in Moldova to treat respectfully the sovereignty of the host country. As a result, the ambassadors of other EU countries accredited in Moldova collectively stood up for their colleague, and the Socialist Party was expectedly supported by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which directly accused the EU representative of interfering in the internal affairs of Moldova. The events of recent weeks prove once again how sensitive the Moldovan politics is to the international context and what impact the "atmospheric phenomena" in the upper echelons of international politics actually have on the Republic of Moldova. Such a symbiotic relationship with several influential stakeholders leads to the fact that any changes and fluctuations instantly influence the Moldovan reality. The relations between Russia and the European Union are known to have deteriorated as of late, triggered by the situation around the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. The recent visit of the High Representative of the European Union for International Affairs Josep Borrell to Moscow played its part, the results of which served a prologue to a new round of complex relations not only between Russia and the EU, but also the collective West. It should be noted that European politicians, diplomats and think tanks have long called on Brussels to take a fresh look at the Eastern Partnership and to revitalize the EU's role at its borders. An unplanned deterioration in relations with the Kremlin, most likely, can be used as a convenient pretext to start re-actualizing the Eastern European vector, where the EU has practically left the situation out of sight and lost its once strong stance in the post-Soviet countries. Charles Michel's route through the Eastern Partnership countries - Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia - is a vivid example of the current state of the European project to support the post-Soviet republics. Despite this, Brussels apparently plans to focus on collaboration with particular this "trinity", so the main purpose of the trip is to underscore the relevance of Kiev, Tbilisi and Chisinau in the EU's foreign policy. Back to the events in Moldova, many experts pointed out an interesting detail: no response or backing for Peter Michalko from the US Embassy. The previously observed coincidence of positions and assessments between Brussels and Washington unexpectedly turned into a silence of American diplomacy. This may indicate that the changes in the White House administration and the State Department leadership brought about certain adjustments in approaches, which influenced also the Moldovan track. These new approaches may not quite coincide with the current vision of Brussels with its exceptional and uncontested stake on Maia Sandu. Moreover, in contrast to the European Union, the United States views the post-Soviet space from a broader strategic angle, as well as from the point of view of military-defense planning in the Black Sea region, where Russia is actively building up its potential, creating a kind of "South Kaliningrad" on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. Therefore, recurrent attempts by Brussels to increase its competitive advantages in the Eastern Partnership countries are poorly correlated with the US plans to contain the Kremlin in military and political dimension in view of its increasingly rigid actions along its borders. The near future will be of paramount importance for Moldova in retaining the unity of political elites and the integrity of the state. Washington, Brussels and Moscow's cooperative approach, which was observed in June 2019, would be much softer for the fragile Moldovan state, since the continuing confrontational scenario and the standoff between the leading capitals on the Moldovan political field can only lead to a deeper internal crisis reducing the chances to keep the country functional.