Premier Leanca believes Transnistrian problem will be solved before Moldova is accepted to EU

The Transnistrian problem shall be settled before Moldova joins the European Union, Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca stated in his interview with the Adevarul newspaper of Romania.     

“I don’t think that anybody can afford the luxury of admitting a country with territorial problems to the European Union, like Cyprus. We fully realize that this will not happen. We are supposed to find a solution to the Transnistrian problem before Moldova becomes an EU member. This is a task for a medium-term perspective. And as for a short-term perspective, nobody has ever told us that the availability of this conflict hinders the development of our relations with the European Union or prevents us from becoming a candidate country”, said the premier.   

He believes the most important thing is to receive a possibility to submit application and to get the status of a candidate country.

“From that moment, our [European] path will become irreversible. The European Commission’s financial assistance is making the right side of the Dniester [the mainland Moldova] more attractive in the eyes of those who live on the left bank [Transnistria]. Then, there will be more possibilities for finding a solution that will not hinder our objective of integration into the European Union. We cannot accede to the European Union as long as we have a separatist region, but the Transnistrian conflict shall be resolved one day”, emphasized Iurie Leanca.   

He admitted that relations with Tiraspol leaders are not at all easy, and that the only way out of the situation is to continue dialog with them.   

If there is no dialog, problems will begin appearing, and suspicions, and negative energy. Then will follow provocations and unilateral decisions leading to tension. This is the least we want. It is only through dialog that we can achieve solutions pertaining to the freedom of movement and to the situation in the Transnistria Security Zone”, said the Moldovan Prime Minister.        

Answering a question on the possibility of opening consular offices of Russia and Ukraine in Tiraspol, the premier called these aspirations as quite natural, with an account of the large number of the citizens of these two countries residing in the Transnistrian region.    

“We will be able to negotiate this question concretely only when the Moldovan authorities establish an efficient control in the Transnistrian region because by permitting to open foreign consulates, you assume responsibility and must guarantee maximum security to foreign diplomats. So far, however, we told our colleagues from Moscow and Kiev that it is possible to find other solutions”, said Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca.       

Adapted from Infotag