There are no justified reasons for Moldova and Transnistria to exist as two separate entities, a group of Romanian researchers say in the study “Comparative analysis of the development on the two sides of the Nistru” that was issued in Sibiu, Romania. The analysis contains comparative data regarding the state, politics, economy and human rights in Moldova and Transnistria, IPN reports.

“The goal was to see if there is a development advantage on the right or on the left side of the Nistru River and what importance this advantage plays in the Transnistrian conflict. We examined the situation in five areas - political sphere, economy, human rights, the mass media, and civil society – to make a comparison between Moldova and the Transnistrian region,” said one of the authors of the study presented in Chisinau Eugen Strautiu, who is a Transnistrian conflict analyst.

At political level, it was established that the constitution on both sides of the river is rather democratic, while the separation of powers in the state is applied. As regards the activity of the mass media, the legislation on both banks is permissive. However, the public administration in Tiraspol is much more involved in the management of the press, while in Chisinau it is witnessed the oligarchiztaion of the press, given that he legislation favors the masking of the real identity of media owners, says the publication.

The NGOs working in the area of human rights are much weaker in Tiraspol than in Chisinau. Also, as they are not recognized at international level, the Transnistrian authorities do not bear responsibility for the human rights violations.

According to the authors, the economic costs of the Transnistrian conflict are great and have evident negative effects. These include the division of the information and communication areas, dependence of the exports’ geography and structure on the level of the political conflict, debts for the imported natural gas and replacement of the business relations between the companies of Moldova and Transnistria with legal or illegal trading schemes.

The study involved by five researchers from both banks of the Nistru. The publication was produced within the project “Development as a solution to the Transnistrian conflict” that was implemented by the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu. The project was financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and was supported by the UNDP.