Moldovan FM: Nothing more important than territorial reintegration and EU integration

Moldova’s Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan hopes 5+2 talks will be called to discuss steps for a final solution on the Transnistrian conflict, after the planned meeting between President Vladimir Voronin with Tiraspol leader Igor Smirnov, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Too much has been done to sit calm and watch only how the events develop. It seems all the political circumstances favor Moldova now. Nobody doubts its independence, neither Moldova’s territorial integrity,” Andrei Stratan addressed a news conference on Thursday, April 10. Moldova’s top diplomat thinks the country should use this opportunity, despite the tensions having swollen for years, including “in the President’s heart, who was hindered to go to the area and who had problems even when he had to see his mother for the last time”. “All those cannot be forgotten, but the national interest of the head of the state should be appreciated, because it is above all. We don’t have objectives more important than the territorial reintegration of the state and the integration into the European Union,” the minister pointed out. Andrei Stratan has criticized the politicians “making negative remarks” as to the President’s initiative to meet with Smirnov. Not voicing names, Stratan has said he meant the same people uttering speeches unfavorable for the country they live in on international floors. “The will to seek for possibilities to solve the Transnistrian conflict and to integrate Moldova, without yielding anything to the detriment of the political development of our country is showing political will,” Stratan commented Vladimir Voronin’s position. Andrei Stratan has reiterated that the Law voted by the Parliament in 2005 on the basic principles of the region’s status will be laid as a basis for solving the Transnistrian problem. “There has been and is a huge political will in our country to unify and have the possibility to go on the path of integrating into the European Union together with the citizens from the Transnistrian area,” the Foreign Minister said. He has avoided to comment the ideas that the reunion between Voronin and Smirnov would have been arranged by the Russians, as the Tiraspol leaders had stated Wednesday in an interview. Smirnov said he had been told Voronin would call him by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Elaborating on the costs of the unification, the top diplomat says the EU has confirmed its interest and possibility to assist Moldova in the practical application of the President’s proposals, including financially. “There is no estimative figure” the minister has underlined, adding the calculations will be made when they reach to implement concrete actions to reintegrate the state. Asked about the position Moldova will find itself, after Ukraine got the signal in Bucharest it will allowed into NATO, Andrei Stratan says a draft concept on national security is being finalized now, and it clearly establishes Moldova’s neutrality. “This provision of the Constitution won’t be modified. We’ll take over the practice of the EU countries which are not part of the North-Atlantic Alliance, but have a constructive cooperation with NATO instead,” the Minister said. Moldova has as yet received no official reply, though diplomatic channels, as to the recognition of its neutrality by the countries giving participated in the Bucharest summit, or the ones involved in the 5+2 negotiations. No details have been made public about the meeting between Vladimir Voronin and Igor Smirnov. [Info-Prim Neo’s note: 5+2 format means the settlement negotiations are conveyed by Moldova, the Transnistrian area, Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE plus the USA and the EU as observers.]