When Chisinau cannot identify solutions to the Transnistrian conflict, someone could appear with the own solutions and could experiment on the Republic of Moldova, ex-Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Cristina Lesnic stated in a public debate hosted by IPN
Cristina Lesnic noted that the Transnistrian conflict in the European space is often called the conflict of elites as it is not actually an ethnic or religious conflict. According to her, this frozen conflict on Moldova’s territory does not suit anyone, especially due to the regional security developments and to the hybrid threats that are used by those from the Russian Federation to weaken Chisinau’s power to intervene.
“This is visible and we often saw how the Russian Federation acts with regard to us and I will talk about human rights. Out of the 197 cases examined by ECHR, the Russian Federation in only two cases implemented those decisions by which it was found guilty. It’s clear that the strategy and tactics applied by the Russian Federation with respect to the Transnistrian region and to the other conflicts in which it is the aggressor makes us be more united and this synergy makes us have not only a pertinent response reaction, but also in time. So, we must prevent eventual escalations of this conflict, but I strongly believe that what happens in Ukraine can positively or negatively affect the situation in the Republic of Moldova,” stated Cristina Lesnic.
She believes that the citizens’ confidence in the political solution remains a serious challenge in the settlement process. “As we know, neither the officials nor journalists in time had access to the Transnistrian region to provide credible information to our citizens in the Transnistrian region and these informed themselves rather from the local media or from information disseminated by the Russian Federation in the Transnistrian region,” said Lesnic.
She also said that from strategic viewpoint, Chisinau should think up a political solution to the conflict, which would be accepted for reintegrating the country. “It would be immoral and cynical not to try and integrate into the EU with a pragmatic solution for the Transnistrian region. I don’t know if the model of Cyprus, that precedent should be replicated further to enlarge the EU and for security that lays at the basis of the European Union and the European Political Community,” stated Cristina Lesnic.
The ex-Deputy Premier for Reintegration also said that there is now no alternative to the 5+2 format of the Transnistrian settlement conflict.
As to the philosophy of the European Political Community, Cristina Lesnic said that this is an accelerator between the EU and the non-EU states and is also a new perspective for extending the EU, including by accepting Moldova and Ukraine. The role of this political community as an accelerator is to address the problem of conflicts form another national, regional security angle.
The debate entitled “European Political Community Summit – signals for reintegration of the Republic of Moldova and its integration into the EU” was staged by IPN News Agency in the framework of the project “Support for European Integration by stimulating discussion in the mass media about the European Political Community (EPC) Summit” that is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.
