The Venice Commission shows a clear way out of the crisis, Info-Prim Neo interview with the Head of the European Union Delegation to Moldova, Dirk Schuebel

[ - According to certain estimations, your daughter could have been born in Chisinau, after your appointment in November 2009 as the new Head of the Delegation of the European Union. If so, then according to international procedures, the little Emilia Schuebel could have a Moldovan citizenship as well. Do we really have ‘our man’ in your family, and consequently, in the European Union? And yourself, do you feel like ‘our man’ in Brussels?] - First of all I would like to congratulate you on the skills of calculating the correct date of the birth of my daughter. Indeed my daughter could have been born also in Moldova. On the serious part of your question, I would say that first of all I am, of course, the ‘man of Brussels’ in Moldova, because I represent the interests of the European Union here. However, on the other side, I consider myself as a linking element between Brussels and Chisinau, in particular to help you understand better what is happening in Brussels and on the other hand to help Brussels understand what is happening in the Republic of Moldova. [ - Was it a surprise for you, the decision of the Moldovan government, in particular the Alliance for European Integration, to organize a national referendum, and consequently, avoid early parliamentary elections? What do you think about it?] - Of course, we have been in contact with the Moldovan government and all the parties of the Alliance of European Integration for a considerable amount of time and we know about the difficulties to come to a joint position. Our position is known, I think – we suggest that the recommendations of the Venice Commission should be followed; and the recommendations foresee to change only one article of the Constitution in Parliament, followed by early elections. [ - Do Moldova’s international partners have a common position on the solution announced by AEI for the political crisis, by avoiding the early elections? Is there unanimity regarding this matter between the EU and USA ambassadors represented in Chisinau, is there any dissenting opinion?] - Of course I cannot talk about the views of the entire international community present in the Republic of Moldova. What I can say is that the European Union follows a fairly consistent position – from the beginning of the negotiations with the Venice Commission, we have said that the recommendations of the Venice Commission will be binding for us and will be the line to follow. This is also what we have recommended now. As for the United States, I am in close contact with the US Ambassador and my impression is that our positions are very close to each other. [ - What do you think about the reaction of the Moldovan Party of Communists, as the parliamentary opposition, to organize a ‘counter-referendum’ in protest against the avoidance of early elections? How could this influence the situation in Moldova?] - I personally think that the last word has not yet been spoken, that there will be no early elections. That is why I think this reaction of the Communist Party is not their final position either. I would recommend that we wait until the final decision is communicated by the governing alliance and see how the Communist Party will finally react. [ - What should Moldova’s current government do to preserve the extensive support of its foreign partners for development, and how could it be lost? Say, the Moldovan government insists on avoiding early elections... ] - I think I have said already that our strong recommendation is to follow the recommendations of the Venice Commission, because this is the body that can interpret the constitutions of the European countries in the best way, as they have the best experts at their disposal. If you ask me what the government can do best, I think it is to follow the recommendations in this context. [ - And in what circumstances would the government lose the support?] - We will certainly not stop supporting Moldova if the recommendations are not followed, but of course it will cast a certain shadow on our cooperation. [ - Until now, one of the central messages of the EU for Moldova – and especially today, considering the political and constitutional stalemate – has been that a political dialogue and compromise between the main existing political forces is needed. However, during 8 years of Communist rule there was virtually no political dialogue, and especially political compromise, between the power and the opposition; and nothing indicates that it could happen under the current government. There is no political tradition and culture for this, and, a fortiori, the political interests appear to be diametrically opposed. It seems that you ask the impossible at this stage, knowing in advance that the request cannot be fulfilled...] - I do not think that the last 8 years of Communist government are decisive for having created this situation. Rather it’s the last more than seventy years of the former Soviet Union, until 1991, that are responsible for this lack in political dialogue. However, I would not see the situation in such dark colors as you paint it. I think we see the beginning of a political dialogue, even if there is still a long way to go between the parties. I also do not think, in particular with regard to the EU, that the interests are diametrically opposed, because both, the governing Alliance for European Integration as well as the opposition Communist Party, are in favor of the course of European integration for the Republic of Moldova. [ - Yes, but both think so from the perspective of being the governing party…] - Moldova is not a unique country in this context. There are other countries in this part of the world where similar situations exist. [ - What is good and what is bad in the relationship between Moldova and the European Union at this stage and why?] - Since the very beginning of the existence of the Republic of Moldova we have progressed to develop our political relations to reach a more and more intensive level, and I expressively include also the periods when the Communist Party was in government. Certainly, when the current government took office in September last year, our relations have received a further push to become even more intensive. What is currently bad in our relationship is related to the global financial crisis – unfortunately, we do not have the financial possibilities that we would like to have for Moldova, but the same applies to the EU countries. [ - Speaking about money. The EU has been and remains Moldova’s largest donor since the declaration of Independence, with more than €500 million being offered in aid. What were the tendencies of this aid during this period and what did its volume depend on?] - Moldova has been always a neighboring country close to the EU and since 2007 it has even become a direct neighbor, when Romania joined the EU. The volume of our cooperation has always depended mainly on the absorption capacity of the institutions of the Republic of Moldova. I think we have achieved considerable progress in this respect over the last few years. The characteristic features of the help in the current period are that we have shifted since 2007 to the so-called budgetary support, which implies we have a lot of confidence in the Government of the Republic of Moldova. For the time being, we have launched three big budget support program – for the social sector, for the area of health, and the area of water and water supply. And this year's budget support will be provided to the sector of rural development. We support these sectors because we think there is enough absorption capacity, since national strategies exist for developing these sectors. [ - You have partially answered the next question about Moldova’s capacity to absorb funds. Is this incapacity a chronic disease, is it dangerous?] - I don’t know any country that has a perfect record of absorbing funds from whatever source. And the Republic of Moldova is certainly not perfect in this context either. We are trying to help to improve this capacity, but there is still a long way to go. Yesterday, (Thursday, March 18 – IPN) the majority of donors for the Republic of Moldova signed, together with the Prime Minister (Vlad Filat – IPN), a document called “The Partnership Principles”. One of the objectives of these principles is to improve the absorption capacities of the Moldovan institutions. [ - What is the impact produced in Moldova by the money EU has offered? How much ‘richer’ and ‘more democratic’ our country has become, and how much ‘better’ its citizens feel?] - I think we can say that the EU support has considerably contributed to improving the lives of the Moldovan citizens in many areas, be it through our budget support programs, be it through simple projects. I would like to single out the work of the EU Border Assistance Mission, which has also a very positive effect on the cooperation of the customs and border guard authorities with Ukraine. The day before yesterday (Wednesday, March 17 – IPN}, for example, I was in Hancesti, where I opened a part of a cross-border cooperation project financed by the EU. The amount provided for this project – the creation of a hospice for the elderly – is not enormously high, I think it was €270,000, but I saw how happy those, mostly elderly people were to see such improvement of their standards of life. I think this is a perfect example of the small success stories we can make in the Republic of Moldova. [ - And the last question about money, in a political context. The Moldovan politicians are trading accusations of stealing foreign loans and grants, that they are used for political and electoral purposes. How real are these accusations taking into consideration the more than €500 million offered by the EU?] - I personally have not heard of such accusations during my four and a half months here in Moldova, but if such allegations exist, these might be related to local parties' politics. We have quite efficient auditing bodies, which audit the outcome of our projects very carefully and if irregularities happen, then certainly legal procedures would be underway. [ - Who is responsible, and to what extent, for the fact that Moldova enjoys only one percent of the EU’s trade with third-party countries? And this happens after years of assurance ‘of love’ of the Moldovan governments for European integration and European values…] - First of all we should not forget the size of the Republic of Moldova. It’s a country with an estimated 4 million inhabitants, so I think we cannot expect Moldova having a terribly high percentage of trade with the EU, which has trade relations with the entire world. Second, Moldova does not have the privilege, for instance, that its neighbor Russia has, to have many raw materials, like oil, gas and coal, to be exported to other countries. However, it has a very fertile ground, which is good, because agricultural products could become the main export products, and here we are working together so that the quality standards of these products improve. [ - What do you think is the future of the Transnistrian conflict, which remains frozen for already twenty years, and what can the EU further do to approach its settlement?] - It is difficult to predict the perspectives of the Transnistrian conflict. I see some encouraging signs in that informal discussions in the 5+2 format have been started and in that a deputy prime minister responsible for the Transnistrian conflict was appointed in the new government. We hope that official 5+2 talks will also be taken up soon. What we can do apart from actively participating as observers in the 5+2 negotiations is to work on confidence-building measures. And that’s what we are doing now – we have recently launched the second confidence-building package with Transnistria and I see my task to implement these confidence-building measures, of the first and the second package, as effectively as possible in order to help improve the lives of the Transnistrian population. [ - Please remind us what the second package includes.] - First of all it includes cooperation with civil society; the second part concerns the development of business, in particular training for the managers of small and medium-sized enterprises, the creation of business incubators; the third part includes the creation of a Euroregion, comprising Vinitsa Oblast (in Ukraine – IPN), the district of Soroca and the northern part of Transnistria; and the fourth is the resolution, if possible, of the railway issue. [ - I had the impression that Mr. Kalman Mizsei, the Special Representative of EU in the Republic of Moldova and your colleague, didn’t like one particular question we asked him in an interview earlier this month. And as unpleasant it may be, I feel I have to ask you the same question, since it concerns a much and long-debated issue. Here it is – Some media outlets and analysts consider that the EU is taking into account Moscow's position in an exaggerated way while formulating its policies with respect to Moldova. How often do you play the role of a ‘mediator’ or a ‘courier’ between Brussels and Moscow in Moldova-related issues?] - First of all, Russia is an important political and economic player in the world and a very important partner of the European Union in this context. If you need one proof of this, we can refer to the gas conflict last year with Ukraine, where we have seen how dependent the European Union is on Russian gas. In this context, it is quite normal that we have such a close relationship with such an important partner as Russia. However, as the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova, I can tell you that we are formulating our own, absolutely independent policy with regard to Moldova and how we want to cooperate with Moldova is the exclusive opinion of the European Union. Having said this, I can also tell you that I have established very close and intensive contacts with Russian Ambassador (to Moldova Valery) Kuzmin; we have regular meetings during which we exchange our views on certain aspects of the situation in the Republic of Moldova. [ - How can you explain the change to a more intensive communication policy of the EU Delegation with the local media? Is it a personal choice of the new Delegation Head, Dirk Schuebel, or is it a thing that reveals a change in attitude and accents in the EU’s policy with regard to Moldova?] - I think it’s a combination of both. Communication plays a more and more important role in today’s world and we of course do not make an exception to this development. That is why it is my professional task to communicate more and more on what the European Union is doing in Moldova. Secondly, it is my personal choice to intensify the communication policy of the EU Delegation even further, because I think the European Union needs to know more about Moldova and the public in Moldova needs to be more informed about the European Union. [ - Why and how do you learn Romanian? Could we hope for an interview with you without an English interpreter next time?] - I must say a have a very dedicated Romanian teacher and I am trying very hard to learn the Romanian language, even though I have very little time to do so. And while I cannot tell you whether I would be able to offer you an interview in Romanian next time, I think it is my obligation to learn the basics of this language and I have to say I like this language very much. {[This interview was done by Valeriu Vasilica on Friday, March 19, 2010]}