OSCE Ministerial Council hasn’t adopted a declaration on Moldova

The OSCE Ministerial Council held in Madrid has failed to adopt a Final Declaration as well as a Declaration on Moldova, the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration said in a communiqué. Andrei Stratan, Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed his profound disappointment with the fact that, despite the significant effort made by the Moldovan Delegation and the majority of actors involved, the Organisation has failed for the fifth year in a row to reach a consensus on these important documents, the communiqué reads. According to the cited source, the dissenting position of just one member state has apparently torpedoed all efforts to agree on the steps to be taken for settling the Transnistria dispute. Andrei Stratan stated in his speech in Madrid that Moldova stands firm on its position to settle the conflict on the basis of respect for the principle of the state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The involved actors, in particular the representatives of Tiraspol, have been urged to resume the five-plus-two talks without any precondition. In addition, all the relevant actors have been called to involve themselves actively in the consultations on the transformation of the existing peacekeeping mechanism into an internationally mandated multinational mission. Moldova’s MFA also voiced regret at the lack of progress in the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Moldova, reiterating the belief that the fulfilment of the overdue Istanbul commitments will contribute to settling the conflict and that the unconditional withdrawal of Russia’s military troops from Moldova will help to overcome the deadlock and to put in force the Adapted CFE Treaty. At the OSCE Ministerial Council held in Madrid, 27 NATO member states formulated a declaration conditioning the ratification of the Adapted Treaty on the complete fulfilment of the commitments prescribed by the Final Act on the CFE Treaty and its annexes, adopted in 1999. The Russian Federation has been blocking for five years the attempts of the OSCE Ministerial Council to adopt a declaration on Moldova.