Igor Grosu: The integration of the Transnistrian region into the Republic of Moldova will last and is not an impediment to the EU accession process
Maintaining peace and social tranquillity is an achievement, explained Igor Grosu in the European Union Parliament. He hinted that the integration of the Transnistrian region into the Republic of Moldova will last and is not an impediment to the EU accession process. Even the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, when he was in our country for the European Political Community Summit, referred to the case of Cyprus which was accepted into the European Union with territorial problems. The President of the Parliament, Igor Grosu, argues that the integration of the population and the territory on the left bank of the Dniester also entails costs.
"Ideas or initiatives like: now is the time to solve the Transnistrian conflict quickly are not supported in the Moldovan Parliament and by the Moldovan political class. Quickly means only not solving the conflict. It would mean escalation. Our citizens live on the left bank and we will continue to take care of them. Just as we took care in the pandemic. Since the outbreak of war. Now all imports or with the blockade of the Ukrainian border, the blockade of the Black Sea infrastructure, the compromise of all logistical chains. So all the connection or supply of what is needed, goods, products and so on, is only on the western border. And it is our duty, and we are doing it, to provide our citizens with everything they need", said Speaker of Parliament Igor Grosu.
The Republic of Moldova has called for the withdrawal of the Russian task force and the liquidation of Soviet weapons from Cobasna, at the same time as transforming the peacekeeping mission from military to civilian. The 5+2 international negotiating platform is not working, primarily because Russia attacked Ukraine, with both countries listed as mediators. The OSCE mandate in Moldova was recently extended until the end of the year.
"It's going to take time, patience, a very cold assessment because these are costs that we will have to estimate and see how we manage them because those military, and those who are enlisted in all kinds of illegal structures where they will have to go through a period of adaptation to a new style or work and so on, it's a complicated process, one thing I want to mention: the process of integrating the Republic of Moldova into the European Union is no longer being discussed as a package, if I may say so, with the resolution of the Transnistrian conflict. They are two different processes, which have different speeds", stressed the head of the Chisinau legislature.
The European consensus on the integration of the Transnistrian region is to grant it a special status to be negotiated.
