Publisher: IDIS VIITORUL Institutul pentru Dezoltare şi Initiative Sociale

Republic of Moldova and the Future of Eastern Partnership: Warsaw Summit Perspectives

Author(s): Eduard Țugui / Language(s): English

Between 29 and 30 September Poland will host the second summit of Eastern Partnership, which will bring together leaders of 27 EU member states and of EU Eastern neighbors, European Council President, European Commission President, European Parliament President, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, representatives of civil society and business environment. Plenary session will conclude with the adoption of a Joint Declaration. Also, within the summit there will be a conference on civil society, which will be held in Warsaw, as well as the first Business Forum of Eastern Partnership, which will be held in Sopot. Two years after the launch of Eastern Partnership, these events represent an opportunity for rethinking European Union commitments in eastern neighborhood, in terms of efficiency of this new European project and reformulation of clearer European perspectives for the states included in the partnership.

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Republic of Moldova-Romania: Streamlining Strategic Partnership for European Integration

Author(s): Eduard Țugui / Language(s): English

After two decades of independence of the Republic of Moldova and development of Moldovan-Romanian diplomatic relations, the continental geopolitical dynamics requires a bilateral agenda rich in policies and projects targeting accommodation (from different positions) of both states to European architecture, and especially, European Integration of the Republic of Moldova. Signing the partnership for Moldova’s European Integration, which provides basic political framework of Moldovan-Romanian co-operation on European dimension, has raised the beginning of inter-governmental negotiations on signing an Action Plan that will detail this partnership. Far from comprising complexity of a Moldovan-Romanian co-operation, the study aims to highlight some sectoral projects, worth to be included in Action Plan and the accomplishment of which would move Moldo¬va closer to the EU.

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Republica Moldova și regiunea Transnistreană: Dezvoltarea Regională și Cooperarea in terco munitară

Author(s): Eduard Ţugui / Language(s): Romanian

The text is based on the discussions of experts from the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian region during the round table "Regional development and prospects for interregional cooperation on both banks of the Dniester" on May 16, 2014, held at IDIS "Viitorul" within the project « Stimulating consolidation measures of trust between Chisinau and Tiraspol ». The opinions and conclusions found in the text do not necessarily represent the position of the partner and donor institutions - UNDP and the Romanian Embassy in the Republic of Moldova - or the position of IDIS « Viitorul ». // The purpose of the round table was to identify the existing legal framework and regional development policies in the Republic of Moldova and the Transnistrian region, highlight the needs and obstacles of regional development, as well as formulate recommendations to stimulate cooperation of local and regional public authorities on both sides. The Dniester. Regional development is the main mechanism for reducing the development gaps in contemporary society, in order to ensure economic, social and territorial cohesion. The paradigm that implies the homogeneous development of all regions and regional development policies is gradually articulated within the European Union, with the consolidation and expansion of integration, becoming a model of development for much of the contemporary world. Regional development and European cohesion policy are the mechanism that within the European Union has led to reducing regional development disparities and building the welfare state, while the process of European integration of the Republic of Moldova necessarily involves regional development.

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Restituirea Taxei pe Valoare adăugată: Analize şi Soluţii

Author(s): Corina Gaibu / Language(s): Romanian

Value added tax is the indirect tax on which the greatest attention is focused, both by the state and by private companies. Its administration is a difficult, painstaking thing, because it requires a lot of time and effort from both taxpayers and the tax service (reports, controls, verifications). The value added tax constitutes over 70% of the fiscal revenues from the state budget. Any deviation in VAT collection has a direct impact on the financing of budget expenditures. The table below shows the importance of value added tax, its share compared to other taxes and duties collected from taxpayers. In the first half of 2009 alone, out of the total of 4 billion lei in taxes and duties levied at customs, value added tax is 2.9 billion, ie over 70% of the total. At the same time, the influence of the crisis on economic activity is being felt. In 2009, compared to the same period of 2008, about 30% less taxes and fees were collected, and respectively in the same proportion the amount of value added tax was modified. The decrease in imports has largely led to a decrease in the value added tax levied at customs.

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Russia and the Territorial Integrity in the Post-Soviet: New Reality, Old Paradigm

Author(s): Octavian Țîcu / Language(s): English

Discussioons concerning the revival of the neo-imperial ambitions in the Russian Federation are in stage since the end of “honeymoon” relations between Moscow and West in the mid 1990’s. Belief in an emerging neo-imperial policy is being legitimized by recent actions. A widely recognized stereotype in Russian political thinking, influenced by an awareness of contemporary Russia’s weakness and loss of global power, is “until Russia is leader in its region of the world, it cannot be expected to become a global power.” Thus, self-assertion in the “Near Abroad” has become a substitute for the superpower-status inherited from both the Soviet period and a remoter, pre-revolutionary era.

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Russia’s New Policy in the Post-Soviet Space

Author(s): Eduard Țugui / Language(s): English

The return of Vladimir Putin as President elected for six years was not necessarily a surprise for the Russians and the international community, but the absolutely specific way in which elections took place in the Russian Federation and the international context turbulence gave this event a special importance. While major western partners of Russia were reserved if not even dissatisfied, for the post-Soviet area this political castling may mean that some geopolitical projects and military architecture will be more dynamic and was treated with great interest. Often, within the public space of the former Soviet republics, Russia’s internal political process and investing of the most powerful politician in the last twelve years came to be understood sometimes as a prerequisite for a new destiny. The Republic of Moldova is quite receptive to all “geopolitical engineering” of Russia, while some Moldovan political parties and information sources support from within the realization of a geopolitical project that Vladimir Putin intends to achieve during the current presidential term.

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Russia’s Pressures and the European Course of the Republic of Moldova

Author(s): Eduard Ţugui / Language(s): English

The approach of the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius on 28-29 November 2013, where the ex-soviet states are expected to sign/initial the Association Agreement with the EU precipitates the geopolitics of the post-Soviet space. Russia employs all available tools to obstruct the European course assumed by these states, including the Republic of Moldova while the European Union provides unprecedented diplomatic assistance and economic support in order to make sustainable the European course and development of the states that will come to Vilnius with the Association Agreements. The Republic of Moldova is experiencing therefore one of the turning points of its history and despite ever more evident pressures of Russia, the firm European course assumed by the entire society accompanied by a model technical preparation ensures all premises for a sustainable development.

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Russian Military Presence in Moldova – a Sensitive Issue for the Future of Relations Between Chișinău and Moscow

Author(s): Ion Tăbârţă / Language(s): English

The presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova are barely over, and the first divergences between the future President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu – on one hand, and the Kremlin administration – on the other hand, are already foreshadowed. Some statements by Sandu regarding the presence of Russian military troops, illegally stationed on the left bank of the Dniester, and which statements in fact reiterated Chisinău's official stance on this matter, as it was known before the Ion Chicu government, disturbed Moscow and provoked its negative reaction.

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Russian`s Complaints against Third Energy Package and its Importance for Moldova

Author(s): Ion Muntean / Language(s): English

A year after signing the agreement to implement the third energy package, the Republic of Moldova, at the Energy Community Ministerial Council meeting in Montenegro on 18 October 2012, asks the European Union for derogation from Article 9 of Directive 2009/73/EC of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas. In fact Article 9 of the Directive which provides that “the same person or persons are entitled neither directly or indirectly to exercise control over an undertaking performing any of the functions of generation or supply, and directly or indirectly to exercise control or exercise any right over a transmission system operator or over a transmission system” and vice versa, is the basic article and delaying its implementation automatically involves delaying other important articles of the directive.

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Russian-German Relations Impact on the Republic of Moldova European future

Author(s): Ion Tăbârţă / Language(s): English

Until recently, Germany’s relations with Russia were based on a comfortable pragmatism. Russian-German pragmatic relations were determined by two strategic issues for both countries: energy interdependence and economic relations. During this period, Germany preferred to overlook human rights and the state of democracy in the Russian Federation. The year 2012 changed significantly the quality of Russian-German strategic partnership. The return of Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin ended the “partnership for modernization” initiated by Angela Merkel and Dmitry Medvedev in June 2010 in Meseberg. The deterioration of the relations between Moscow and Berlin will, undoubtedly, influence directly the architecture of interstate relations in Europe.

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Scheduling the immunization: between superficiality and incompetence

Author(s): Veaceslav Berbeca / Language(s): English

Vaccination of the population is an effective tool for the prevention and control of COVID-19. Given that the vaccine development process was in its final phase in the second half of 2020, obtaining the anti-epidemic serum should have become a national priority for the authorities. Since July 2020, the Republic of Moldova is part of the COVAX platform which supports the research, development, and production of a wide range of vaccines and ensures equal access to these sera. Subsequently, by decision no. 41 of January 13, 2021, of the Extraordinary National Commission for Public Health, the National Immunization Plan against COVID-19 was adopted. This document describes the process of the organization of the vaccination that includes several elements: from authorizing and obtaining the vaccines, to the stages of immunization and monitorization of vaccinated persons.

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Separarea datoriilor şi activelor sa Moldovagaz – o nouă abordare superficială a unor probleme istorice

Author(s): Ion Muntean / Language(s): Romanian

The closer the period of signing a new natural gas procurement contract with the Russian Federation approaches, the more current become the historical problems related to the collaboration between SA Moldovagaz and SAD Gazprom. The stake is the same, obtaining a contract as favorable as possible for both parties since 2012. Obtaining such a result for the Republic of Moldova is conditioned by the historical debts that have accumulated to Gazprom. The problem would be much simpler if there were only debts accumulated on the right side of the Dniester, but since the Transnistrian region is in the middle, the situation is even more complicated. The purpose of this policy brief is not to propose and argue solutions for the possibilities of debt settlement but to clearly identify the problems that formed these debts and risk generating new donations to Gazprom.

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Shedding Light on the ongoing EU-Moldova Trade Liberalisation

Author(s): Evghenia Sleptsova / Language(s): English

In the run up to the 2004 enlargement, the European Union launched a European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), in order to create a “zone of prosperity, stability and security” along its borders. While several new neighbours, such as Moldova and Ukraine, were strongly insisting on a membership perspective, the ENP, with its prospect of political association and deeper economic integration, was a ‘carrot’ that the EU was ready to offer to these countries while it was not in a position to offer a membership.In 2009, under the Swedish presidency, the EU decided to strengthen the Eastern dimension of the ENP by launching the Eastern Partnership initiative (EaP), which would cover six CIS economies – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Incentives offered to these countries in return for their progress in democratisation and reforms included trade liberalisation, increased mobility through visa facilitation agreements and joining the common EU aviation market, as well as participation in various EU programs. Since 2008 with Ukraine and since January 2010 with Moldova the EU has been negotiating the Association Agreements (AA), which will replace the existing Partnership and Cooperation Agreements. The deep and comprehensive free trade agreement (DCFTA) – which is already being negotiated with Ukraine and soon to be negotiated with Moldova and Georgia – will constitute a key component of the AAs.

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Sistemele Educaționale de pe ambele maluri ale Râului Nistru: Diferențe și Puncte de Tangențe

Author(s): Ion Tăbârță / Language(s): Romanian

The purpose of this study is not to analyze the good or bad parts of the two educational systems on both banks of the Dniester River, but to highlight the differences between them and, at the same time, to find certain points of tangency.

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Strengthening bilateral relations between the Republic of Moldova and Turkey - towards a Free Trade Agreement and a Strategic Partnership

Author(s): Veaceslav Berbeca / Language(s): English

On 1-2 November, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Vlad Filat paid an official visit to Turkey aimed at strengthening the Moldovan-Turkish relations. Besides the official results of the event, the signing of several bilateral agreements and protocols between parties in different fields, two business forums were organized in Ankara and Istanbul, where there were discussed the prospects of applying the provisions of the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and Turkey. Moreover, the Moldovan Prime Minister said that on the eve of the official visit of the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Chisinau in the spring of 2013, will be finalized the negotiations for signing the Free Trade Agreement and the Agreement on Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Moldova and Turkey.

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Successes of the National Economy Remodeling

Author(s): Alexandru Fală / Language(s): English

The current operating model of the Republic of Moldova economy is based on consumption, which is funded, on a large scale, by remittances. This paradigm is a challenge, despite the fact that it enables the country to develop without involving enhanced efforts to maintain it. With the absorption of migrants by host countries and the reunification with their families abroad it will be unlikely to maintain a massive influx of long-term remittances. In these circumstances it is necessary to change the operating model of the national economy. After the 2009 crisis, one of the basic tasks to ensure the quality development of the Republic of Moldova became “remodeling” the national economy. As a result of the country’s economic transformation process, investments and exports should become the “engines” of growth. This view is exposed in the main policy documents: the activity program of the Government for 2011-2014 “Freedom, Democracy, Welfare” and the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Moldova 2012-2020 “Moldova 2020”.

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The Compatibility between the Woman’s Occupational Status and her Maternal Role

Author(s): Olga Gagauz,Mariana Buciuceanu-Vrabie / Language(s): English

As for the Republic of Moldova, it is seen that high career requirements are listed on a secondary position to the financial problems and shortcomings. According to the research findings, the justification of the own attitude towards professional activity relates primarily to the economic aspect of the family being a source of income for 74.8% of respondents. The pro¬fessional activity becomes a means of self-ful¬fillment and autonomy for 41% and for about 38% - an opportunity to obtain financial inde¬pendence. With the increase in the number of children, through the involvement in the labor field women claim, primarily, the need for a significant additional income to support the family. Rationalizing on the motivation justifying the involvement into the labor market of the woman who has a child of preschool age, about 2/3 of respondents equally emphasize the “financial and material shortcomings”. Much lower, but significant values are assigned to: desire to have the “own” money (about 39%), satisfaction and interest in work (25.7%), and finally, the need to accumulate work experience (23.3%). Without deviating from the upper position assigned to economic problems, with the increase in the level of education of respondents, rises, as well, the share of motivation towards the interest in the job and the desire of financial independence.

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The Competition of Offers in Gagauzia

Author(s): Veaceslav Berbeca / Language(s): English

The Moldovan central authorities’ relationship with the Gagauz local authorities has been rather tense throughout the last year. This situation has taken many forms: from Gagauz politicians’ requests to provide more funds for the region or adapt national legislation to the law on the special status of ATU Gagauzia, to ensure good functioning of autonomy to overt challenges such as the organization of referendums in the Gagauz region on 2 February 2014 on the foreign policy vector of the state and the right to external self-determination of the Gagauz autonomy if the Republic of Moldova loses its independence. The strained relations between Chisinau and Comrat were especially evident during the negotiation, initialing and signing of the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union. Anti-European messages and actions by the Gagauz leaders evidence the presence of a foreign factor in the conflict between central and Gagauz autonomy authorities.

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The consequences of Moldovan oilmen's "flirtation" with political decision makers

Author(s): Ion Muntean / Language(s): English

The interference of political decision-makers in the process of setting fuel prices is a very visible practice, being acknowledged by the representatives of some oil companies operating in the Republic of Moldova. As a result, the stable and predictable market development framework is compromised and the prospect of rooting competitive principles becomes even more distant. In the first 2 months of 2021, the price of petroleum products experienced an increase that was reflected differently on the Moldovan market compared to the same evolution on the Romanian market, where most quantities of petroleum products come from. Over 65% of the market is held by 6 companies, and over 80% of the import of A95 petrol is controlled by only 3 companies.

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The Consequences of the Disappearance of National Consensus on European Integration

Author(s): Corneliu Ciurea / Language(s): English

The Public Opinion Barometer in November this year contains several items of concern for the supporters of the Republic of Moldova accession to the European Union. In fact, we are witnessing the confirmation of a paradoxical trend noticed already in 2011 – the coming to power of the Alliance for European Integration led to increased skepticism among the population. In the short and medium term this state of things do not seriously jeopardize the reform process. There is a slight chance that people who do not approve of the strategic orientation of the Republic of Moldova will block the reforms. Nevertheless, the population Euro skepticism alienates elites from voters and forces them to promote European agenda in an increasingly narrow circle, turning the Euro integration into the business of only a small group. This fact can ultimately lead to compromising the European cause and reorientation of the Republic of Moldova to the east.

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