Moldova misses vast opportunities not fully using status of CIS member

There is no contradiction between the capacity of a CIS member and the process of European integration. Moldova, which does not use even half of the privileges offered by its capacity of a member of the Community of Independent States (CIS) and of the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova), misses opportunities to join different economic, energy and transit projects. The opinion has been voiced by participants in a round table organized by NGO “The Social-Democratic Institute” concerning Moldova’s foreign policy. According to a release of the association, separate opinions have also been uttered, as for example that Moldova can soon experience serious losses because of lowering the transit of the natural gas through its territory, of the Kuciurgan power plant re-orienting itself towards Ukraine, of Ukraine building a power line surrounding Moldova. Some participants have concluded the problems of the Moldovan foreign policy are generated by the lack of concrete proposals Moldova should be making to Russia and the CIS. Analyst Veaceslav Ionita is quoted by the Social-Democratic Institute as saying Moldova lags behind Ukraine and other CSI states in implementing different energy projects. In the economist’s viewpoint, the capital pouring into Moldova is "a casino-type capital", because the country does not have an institutional frame to encourage such things. Although Moldova is a legal member of the CIS, in fact it has done nothing to benefit of the privileges offered by this organization. Even if Moldova did not have “a wine war” with Russia, anyway the Russian wine market would have been lost because of lacking concrete steps in this regard, the analyst suggested. According to former Moldovan ambassador, Fiodor Angheli, one of the key problems of Moldova is that it permanently tries to solve its own problems on the account of other countries. Even the Kozak plan (suggesting Moldova’s federalization) was not drawn in the country. Viorel Cibotaru, the director of the European Political Research Institute, has underlined Ukraine’s joining NATO is unavoidable. According to him, this will automatically solve the issue of Moldova’s legal status, as well as the latter’s streamline of the foreign policy. Moldova’s ex-president Petru Lucinschi has said Moldova is objectively compelled to make friends with Russia, because “we share very many cultural, economic, historical links and similarities,” reads the communiqué of the Social-Democratic Institute.