Vladimir Voronin: Moldovan authorities are determined to insure a democratic and transparent framework for holding the 2009 parliamentary elections

The Moldovan authorities are determined to insure a democratic and transparent framework for holding the 2009 parliamentary elections. Such an answer was given by President Vladimir Voronin to the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and to the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The Moldovan head of state met the two European officials on May 27 in Brussels, where he traveled to take part in the meeting of the Moldova-EU Cooperation Council, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the presidential press service. “It is very important that all the positive reforms initiated in Moldova are continued,” Benita Ferrero-Waldner said. She reiterated the necessity of paying increased attention to the reforms implemented in such areas as justice, police, combating of corruption and, especially, the freedom of the media, given that 2009 is a pre-election year. Speaking about the relations between Moldova and the EU, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that the European Commission is ready to launch talks on the future cooperation document that will be signed by the EU and Moldova, given that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and the EU-Moldova Plan of Action have already expired. According to the European Commissioner, a round of talks will be opened in the near future to discuss the new framework of cooperation between the EU and Moldova. She specified that the European Commission and Moldova will hold consultations to discuss the content of the future agreement. At the meetings with Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Vladimir Voronin said that he is interested in resuming the talks over the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict in the 5+2 format. He announced his intention to discuss this subject with his counterparts from Russia and Ukraine at the Informal CIS Summit that will take place in Saint Petersburg on June 6-7. For her part, Benita Ferrero-Waldner underlined that the EU is in favor of solving the Transnistrian dispute as soon as possible. The European official said that the EU will support the measures aimed at settling the conflict, underlining the necessity of maintaining a continuous dialogue in the 5+2 format. The European Commissioner also said that the EU pays special attention to the implementation of the confidence building measures between Chisinau and Tiraspol aimed at promoting the settlement process. In another development, Vladimir Voronin thanked the European Commissioner for her acceptance to organize a meeting of representatives of the European Commission and Moldova in Chisinau in July to discuss the content of the Moldova-EU agreement.