Experts in Transnistrian issue point to inefficiency of 5+2 format of talks

The Transnistrian conflict settlement talks in the 5+2 format are inefficient, say Moldovan experts in the Transnistrian issue. According to them, Moldova should insist on a new method of tackling the problem as the current format does not advantage Moldova. These conclusions were formulated in the study “Moldova Lost in the Labyrinth of the Transnistrian Conflict” made by IDIS Viitorul expert Dumitru Manzarari. The study was discussed at a roundtable meeting on February 22, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The real interests existing in the Transnistrian conflict run counter to the declared interests of some of the mediators. Even after the end of the armed conflict, Moldova remained trapped in formal, inefficient talks that serve only to justify Russia’s pretensions of peacekeeper in the CIS and as impetus to strengthen the separatist regime’s status of proxi loial,” the author says in the introduction to the study. The author says that Moldova must discourage any direct or indirect support to the secessionist regime and calls on the European authorities and the whole international community to condemn the Russian support for the separatism. He also says that the most efficient strategy is for Moldova to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, adopting instead a policy to actively influence its options. Political analyst Igor Munteanu, the head of IDIS Viitorul, said the players involved in the talks have not been subject to assessment in Chisinau. “The present format of the talks cannot meet Moldovans national interests. If we do not modify the approach to the problem we will obtain no results and this will affect the internal reforms initiated recently by the new government,” he said Deputy Prime Minister on reintegration matters Victor Osipov said Moldova needs a country reunification strategy. “Unfortunately, we have no sectoral strategies that will be aimed at the country’s reunification. The political situation on the two banks of the Nistru is rather unstable and we cannot say what progress will be made,” he said. Annalist Oazu Nantoi, program director at the Public Policy Institute, stressed the importance of the role played by the civil society. “We must take steps to erode the separatist regime from inside as the population sees no justification for the existence of such a regime, but does not know where to run,” Nantoi said. “Two major preconditions can help solve the conflict. The first is that Russia should be interested in resolving the dispute and want to show to the whole world that it can solve a conflict. The second is the maintenance of Moldova’s status quo. In this case, Moldova should bank on its natural allies – the United States and the European Union,” said analyst Vlad Lupan. According to the IDIS expert Cornel Ciurea, the Transnistrian conflict became an integral party of our life. “We are condemned to be mimes and simulators when we speak about the resumption of the talks. We should change the conception,” he said.