Economist of the independent think tank Expert-Grup Sergiu Gaibu said the decision to provide neutral-design license plates is actually a victory with a juridical connotation in the recognition of the sovereignty of the Transnistrian region. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, the expert said this is the first case of recognition of the independent import regime with the provision of access to international traffic, practically without any concession from the other side. The next tendencies of this regime will indisputably be to obtain independence and sovereignty in the telecommunications and financial flows, IPN reports.
“The regime in Tiraspol announced this with pompousness and held a series of public events and informed about this “big victory” the citizens and, what is important, the persons who have the permanent domicile in the Transnistrian region based on foreign passports as these will also benefit from this advantage. So, we could include here the persons who do not have the nationality of the Republic of Moldova, but live on a permanent basis on the territory of this administrative unit. It’s clear who these are – persons who served for the military forces and continue to live in Transnistria,” stated Sergiu Gaibu.
According to him, the honest persons from the right side of the Nistru who pay import duties will evidently be affected. A customs regime that is different from that of the official Chisinau is actually recognized indirectly and this is very strange as not even the federative countries have such regimes.
Asked why the Moldovan authorities accepted such a formula when there are a series of problems, Sergiu Gaibu said that we witness rather business-like relations. “We all know that there are a series of schemes that work perfectly, not without the involvement of Chisinau, such as the one to buy electrical power produced with Russian gas for which enormous debts are accumulated, of US$7 billion. It is known that there are a series of contraband flows that run through Transnistria. So, it is regrettably rather a Chisinau-Tiraspol-Moscow axis that manages the given relations and benefits from the existence of this unrecognized territory,” stated the economist.
As of September 1, the owners of motor vehicles living in the Transnistrian region can apply for neutral-design license plates that allow for access to international road traffic.
