Even if it has an exclusive geopolitical significance for Russia and the pro-Russian forces in Moldova and ensures a particular media impact, the status of observer country has no economic substance, political pundit Dionis Cenusa says in an analysis article for IPN Agency.
According to the expert, the only benefits indicated in the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (Art. 109) include the participation in institutional meetings of the organization and access to non-confidential documents that are anyway published on the EEU’s official website.
Contrary to the provisions of the EEU Treaty, President Dodon promises impossible commercial and socioeconomic advantages.
To begin with, he promises that the Moldovan exporters will have “additional opportunities” to sell goods on the common EEU market, but the Moldovan products already benefit from access to the markets of the countries that form part of the EEU, based on the CIS Free Trade Agreement of 2012.
The status of observer cannot create additional advantageous conditions and solve the problem of Russian bans that President Dodon is trying to annul, but within a direct dialogue with Vladimir Putin and based on concessions that are for now unknown.
The second “benefit” specified by the Moldovan President is the negotiation of privileged conditions for the Moldovan workers who are in the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Denis Cenusa notes that not even Russia would agree to simplify the access to the labor market for non- EEU members, such as Moldova. Such benefits risk discouraging the extension of the Eurasian integration between the current five members and devaluing the “attraction factors”, such as the elimination of barriers to the employment in Russia.
The third advantage that the Head of State connects to the status is the possibility of negotiating lower prices for the Russian natural gas. In reality, the status of observer does not envision the facilitation of negotiations with Gazprom, which should be held by the country’s government and the operator Moldovagaz in conditions of maximum transparency.
The advantages uttered by the President show that these cannot result from a vague and limited status of observer. These advantages are supported by weak argumentation that does not reflect the provisions of the EEU Treaty, concluded the expert.
