Moldavië vraagt EU om bemiddeling in conflict met Transnistrië (en)

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - Moldova's president Vladimir Voronin urged the EU to help solve the conflict with the breakaway Transdniester region.

Addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee in Strasburg, Mr Voronin said Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, is "a country with European aspirations".

Mr Voronin, who also met European Parliament president Josep Borrell and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso i on Wednesday (8 June), presented the Committee with a declaration from the Moldovan parliament on the implementation of an EU-Moldavia Action Plan.

The Action Plan "will contribute to an early accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Community", reads the document.

"Illegal occupation"

But the Transdniester dispute - a region that declared independence from mainland Moldova over fears the country would join Romania in 1990 - is complicating these prospects.

Two thirds of the 4.3 million Moldovan population are Romanians and the languages are almost identical, according to BBC.

Mr Voronin said that the Russian peace-keepers, the remnants of the 14th Soviet Army stationed there, are stationed "illegally" and are propping up the secessionist government with profits from weapons smuggling and human trafficking.

"Russian troops have no official status. They are in the territory of the republic of Moldova illegally", he said, adding that Moldova demands the Russian troops to be withdrawn "unconditionally".

According to European Commission data, around 2,600 Russian soldiers are present in the area, as well as "a significant amount" of Soviet military equipment.

The Russian government pledged to complete the retreat of the 14th Army under a OSCE agreement by 2002, but such a withdrawal was never completed.

In 2003, negotiations between Russia and Moldova failed when Mr Voronin refused to legalise the presence of such troops, according to Oxford Analytica.

William Hill, the OSCE's special representative in Moldova, told Radio Free Europe that a withdrawal could be completed "in six months", if the political will existed.

Cyprus precedent

According to Oxford Analytica, there has been a shift in the EU's position on the Transdeniestrian conflict after the entry of Cyprus into the EU in 2004.

The example of Cyprus showed a divided country with a stationed army in its territory can join the EU, which was before assumed to be impossible by the Moldovan political elite.

The EU's current position is to help propping up a modern, successful state in Moldova, which would then be more attractive to Transdniestrians.