Deputy Premier for reintegration: New government does not intend to mechanically replace current peacekeeping mechanism

“The way in which certain political opponents address the issue of the peacekeeping operations in the security zone is mistaken and speculative, they insinuating that the new government wants to mechanically replace the military peacekeeping mechanism with a civil one,”said Deputy Prime Minister for reintegration Victor Osipov, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to him, the changes will be correlated with the developments. Referring to the press reports that Prime Minister Vlad Filat asked the European Union to dispatch European peacekeeping troops to Transnistria and proposed replacing the present peacekeeping mechanism with a civil one, Osipov stated for Info-Prim Neo that this is an objective, but not an intention. “The modification of the peacekeeping format is an objective set out in the new executive's government program. Its achievement would represent the success of the military peacekeeping mission. This new stage can be initiated only after it becomes evident that the monitoring through military instruments is not necessary anymore as there are no risks that the conflict could escalate. We will try to achieve this objective together with all those involved in the process,” Victor Osipov said. Victor Osipov is responsible for reintegration matter as the Ministry of Reintegration was liquidated. Immediately after the new Government was constituted last Friday, Osipov traveled to the Transnistrian settlements that are under the constitutional authorities' control and met with representatives of the local authorities. He said that the situation there did not change. The 'contracts' allowing the farmers to cultivate their plots of land situated along the Dubasari – Tiraspol route are in fact certificates. They expire on December 1, 2009 and must be renewed. “I must thoroughly examine these documents issued by the Transnistrian authorities. I don't know if they were agreed bilaterally or they were signed unilaterally by the separatist authorities. I cannot yet say what measures will be taken to extend them, but I see no obstacles to renewing them. I have already discussed the given issue with the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova and we considered measures that must be taken to make sure that the farmers continue cultivating their plots after September 1. The people can harvest their crops and encountered no problem this autumn,” Osipov added.