Transnistrian Conflict Revisited
An international conference entitled "Settling the Transnistrian conflict in the context of Moldova's europeanisation" took place in Chisinau on 26-27 March. The Conference was organised by the Foreign Policy Association of Moldova in cooperation with the Peace Building Framework Project.
Among the key speakers at this conference was Vladimir Socor, a well-known political analyst of the Jamestown Foundation - a think-tank based in Washington DC. Here you can find his speech, which is a good read for anyone interested in the Transnistrian conflict. The main idea is that almost all policies or models previously proposed for the resolution of this non-ethnic, non-economic, non-religious conflict have, in one way or another, failed, and the conflict is currently, more or less, in the same "frozen" condition as it was a decade ago. Except one single positive circumstance - Moldova becoming the immediate EU's Eastern neighbor the consequence of which is "the radiation of the EU soft power on Moldova." In Socor's view, the desire to become part of EU should be a strong motivation for the Transnistrian population to opt for a democratic government, which will ultimately lead to reconciliation with the rest of the country.
I like this idea, although its success relies heavily on Moldova's central government's ability to effectively steer the country onto the path of EU integration. Yet, who said EU integration was easy?!
Comments:
Exactly. For a sobering look at the gap between the official ruling party line in Chisinau and the view from Brussels just take a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_European_Union#Current_enlargement_processes. The current government efforts of Moldova don't seem to make much of an impression on the EU enlargement radar, if any. As always talking the talk is a fundamentally different beast than walking the walk. And yet, the latter is the only sensible way ahead for Moldova as a whole.