Moldova didn’t make use of the right to sue the Russian Federation as a result of the ban imposed by this in 2014. The country had this right and would have transmitted an important signal to the Russian Federation this way, Jorg Radeke, team manager of the German Economic Team Moldova, stated for IPN.
The Government of Moldova asked for the opinion of the German Economic Team Moldova about the way in which it should act. Among the received pieces of advice are taking measures to reorient exports to other markets and taking legal action within the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The expert said Moldova had the right to institute legal proceedings over the violation of the right of access to a market because even the Russian Federation must play by the rules.
Both Moldova and Russia are members of the WTO. In public debates, they often said that Moldova decided to sign the Association Agreement and, as a result, the Russian Federation had to impose trade barriers. However, such things are not correlated. Russia’s restrictions were arbitrary as the commercial agreements between the EU and Moldova didn’t have an impact on the trade with the Russian Federation, while the reasons announced then by Moscow were fabricated, said Jorg Radeke.
According to the German expert, the legal cases within the WTO are examined during a longer period of time and the negative effect of the ban would have anyway been felt, but Moldova would have transmitted the signal that it is ready to use its rights and instruments on the international arena. The Government of Moldova could have asked for explanations for the taken measures. For political reasons, Moldova chose to solve the conflict by bilateral measures.
