European Action criticizes National Security Concept

The European Action Movement (MAE) notes with regret that the bill on the National Security Concept is a document conceived in a hurry, which doesn't take into account the regional realities and the interests of the Republic of Moldova. MAE publicized its considerations on Moldova's National Security Concept via a declaration at a news conference at Info-Prim Neo on Wednesday, May 21. The bill on the National Security Concept was passed in first reading by the Parliament on May 8 and is to face the second on Thursday, May 22. MP Ion Neagu, who is also MAE's vice-president, has stated that the document contains a series of antinational and anti-European provisions and builds on the erroneous vision of the Communist Party, which has interests alien to the national aspirations. “The bill hasn't been consulted with the opposition parties and the civil society. It's a selective document, and the haste in which it was adopted shows that its authors are unwilling to put it for competent and genuinely public debates and obtain through consensus the mandate of the entire society”, said Neagu. The MAE detects in the concept draft a strongly marked anti-NATO approach. The Concept pursues the intention to preserve Moldova's neutrality, a condition imposed by the Russian Federation in the process of negotiations for settling the Transnistrian dispute. This way, Moldova surrenders its foreign policy to the Russian interests, which are directed against the extension of the common security system eastward, the MAE's declaration reads. Ion Neagu has remarked that the Concept requests the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Moldovan soil, but avoids an explicit mention of the Russian troops. “The Concept speaks of militarized formations located in the eastern region of the country, and not of military forces. This is to suggest that the separatism issue is exclusively linked to the militarized formations under Smirnov's command”, the MP observed. The MAE's leadership regards this as a shift in accents concerning the Transnistrian dispute and a disregard of the previous efforts by the Moldovan Parliament and international organizations, which have recognized Russia as an aggressor and occupant country that supports the Tiraspol regime. According to MAE, the basic condition for an equitable settlement of the Transnistrian issue is the unconditional and urgent withdrawal of Russian troops and ammunition from Moldova's territory. MAE also notes that the draft National Security Concept promotes an inappropriate policy towards neighboring Romania and Ukraine. “The cold attitude towards Ukraine reveals the attitude of the official Chisinau towards Kiev's pro-NATO aspiration. At the same time, the Moldovan authorities use the occasion of the Concept to once again insist on the singing of a basic political and border treaty with Romania”, the MAE's declaration adds. MAE calls on political parties and civil society to firmly reject the draft National Security Concept as being “antinational and alien to Moldova's interest of joining the family of civilized nations”.