New Moldovan Premier may meet Transnistrian leader

Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca is not ruling out completely the possibility of organizing a meeting with Transnistrian leader Yevgeny Shevchuk.     

Leanca stated in his interview with Radio Free Europe that Transnistrian conflict settlement is one of the top priorities of the new Moldovan Government, and that “this is a wound that has been bleeding since the first day of the Republic of Moldova’s independence. Until we don’t bring the Transnistrian region back into the political, economic and cultural area of the Republic of Moldova, we will be not able to talk of a fully functional state system in Moldova”.       

The Prime Minister refrained from forecasting the further development of the Transnistrian conflict settlement process, and only stressed that in what concerns Chisinau, quite much has been done for creating more fiduciary relations with Tiraspol and with citizens residing on the eastern Dniester bank.   

In response to the criticism of the ‘small-steps tactic” used in the Transnistrian settlement, Iurie Leanca said that, so far, he cannot see possibilities for making big steps.   

“If I hear such proposals – not at the level of theoretical utopias, but at the level of a real implementation of proposed measures, then I will say, ‘Congratulations!’ and will start insisting on a Nobel Peace Prize for such person. So far, however, I can’t see anything of such kind. With the policy of small steps, we are approaching gradually to concrete results”, said Iurie Leanca.     

The Moldovan Premier voiced satisfaction that a new Moldovan Government has been formed and that political crisis has been overcome, “so nobody can say now that there is no stable partner in Chisinau to talk to concerning the Transnistrian conflict settlement, including in the 5+2 negotiating format”.    

Answering a question about a possible meeting with Transnistrian president Yevgeny Shevchuk, Iurie Leanca replied that “any contact, any communication, any dialog will bring good”. 

“The policy conducted by previous Prime Minister Vlad Filat, who used to hold personal meetings with the Tiraspol leader, was useful and enabled resolving many problems. However, it is necessary to organize a permanent, continuous dialog that would not depend on the communication of this or that leader, but would ensure the appearance of a logic in the process that would develop to a point, which many our compatriots from the left river bank seek to reach”, said Iurie Leanca.    

Adapted from Infotag