Byelorussia could “punish” Republic of Moldova for supporting the EU declaration regarding the recent elections in this state

Even if Byelorussia could punish Republic of Moldova for supporting the declaration of the European Union regarding the un-democratic character of the presidential elections held at the 19th of March, this is the only position matching the national interests of our country, declared Andrei Popov, the executive-director of Extern Politics Association for Info-Prim Neo. The Republic of Moldova has already no alternative and must support the positions of European Union in extern affairs without any exception, even if it regards problems that don’t affect Moldova directly. Especially in cases like this, with profits and sacrifices, where the political maturity and the capacity to respect promises are tested, says the expert. Moldova’s possibility to support EU’s declarations and position-takings in external affairs and common security matters is included in the 13th article of the Moldova - EU plan of actions, which stipulates that there will be developed procedures for Moldova to support “from case to case” the decisions of EU. This is one of the important stipulations of the plan, by which EU allows Republic of Moldova (and Ukraine) to benefit of the same rights as the Eastern Balkans countries. In this way Brussels recognized formally the European perspective of these countries. Taking in consideration Moldova’s desire to benefit of the same treatment, it is very important for our country to identify itself more and more with the Eastern Europe Group of countries. Joining EU declarations is one of the ways to accelerate this perception change, considers Andrei Popov. According to the opinion of Andrei Popov, Moldova’s credibility as partner of the European Union is also very important. The benefits are not perceptible at the moment, but it will be awful if Moldova will be considered as a country that doesn’t keep its promises but just makes pompous declarations. European Union did not impose this stipulation for the RM-EU plan of action, Chisinau itself demanded it, stated Popov. A future refuse of the Republic of Moldova to join European Union in the declarations regarding the elections from Byelorussia, no doubts will affect the interests of our country, also taking in consideration the numerous questions Brussels has regarding the insufficient progresses or even regresses in some important domains of the Action Plan, namely the independence of the judicial system and the mass-media freedom. Contrary to the wrong perception which exists in Chisinau, the European Union considers that Ukraine progresses more than Republic of Moldova on these chapters. This could be one of the explanations of the fact that Brussels is at a more advanced level of the discussions regarding the problem of visa facilitations with Kiev rather than with Chisinau. The decision concerning Byelorussia, along with the Governments’ decision to abolish the visa regime for EU citizens starting with 1st of January 2007 represent positive changes we need. But this signs have to be sustained also through the acceleration of the reform process and elimination of the deficiencies in the Action Plan implementation. In this context the annalist reminds that several months after signing the Action Plan, Moldova didn’t support several EU declarations, but decided to do this in the summer of 2005 by condemning the situation regarding the violation of human rights in Byelorussia. As a consequence, the ambassador of the Republic of Moldova was called off to the Ministry of Foreign affairs from Minsk and was warned about possible consequences upon the mutual relations in case Moldova would repeat similar practices. In the same summer, Ukraine joined the EU anti-Lukasenco declaration, but Moldova didn’t, a fact that was discussed at Brussels, also declared the cited source. Popov also mentioned that after the May-June fruit and vegetable import interdiction of Russia, Byelorussia market was like a valve for Moldova, increasing the negative effects. At the moment, our ambassador from Minsk was once again called, fact that indicates that Byelorussia could manage the same punitive measures for Moldova as those taken by Russia. Several days ago in Byelorussia was discussed the necessity of a more rigorous wine import regime arguing that “Byelorussia must no more tolerate the introduction of false or bad quality products on its market”. According to the opinion of the analyst it would be constructive to make an evaluation of the capacity of the Republic of Moldova to resist in this conditions and to evaluate exactly the effects the eventual measures adopted by Byelorussia could produce. The most unpleasant moment would be the abdication off the tasks and obligations the country already assumed, In the absence of a strategy or of a systemic approach of the external politic problems and of the Transnistrian conflict, the tendency is rather to exacerbate than diminish the risks and the costs, stated in the end Andrei Popov cited by Info-Prim Neo.