Transnistrian conflict and lack of political will for reform keep Moldova in obscurity, European official says

The Transnistrian conflict and the lack of political will for reforming the country’s economy keep Moldova in obscurity in Brussels, even though the country could benefit from more foreign investment if it manages wisely the relation with the European Union, MEP Jan Marinus Wiersma said, quoted by the Romanian NewsIn news agency. At the moment, Moldova’s chances look rather slim because "Moldova is a small country, so it gets little attention, in contrast to Ukraine for instance". The reasons seem to be related to the lack of economic reforms and the Transnistrian problem, Wiersma explained. The Vice-President of the European Parliament’s Socialist Group criticised the authorities in Chisinau for neglecting the instruments of cooperating with the EU. The MEP said that "there are a range of problems, one of which is the economic reform – the ruling party doesn’t really want a reform in the governmental sector. It is the lack of internal will – compared to Ukraine where several parties are pleading for change, especially the Iulia Timosenko Bloc”. Moldova has chosen a pro-European direction and works with the European Commission on adjusting its legislation to the European one, but things move slowly, because the country is blocked by the Transnistrian problem, which cannot be solve because of the rather complicated relations with Russia. We can also observe that Moldova is not using its new relation with the EU within the neighbourhood policy for becoming convincing in attracting foreign investments", Wiersma added. The official thinks that "Russia lost its influence in these countries and wants to regain its power and uses energy sources as means for pressure. For Moldova this is the factor which makes things more complicated, because in the current situation I don’t think that any agreement concerning Transnistria will be reached. This fact together with the lack of reforms hampers the development of Moldova and its economic potential".