Moldova: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: Acting President Marian Lupu
Head of Government: Prime Minister Vladimir Filat

The current Moldovan government was elected in November 2010 and took office in January 2011 in a peaceful transfer of power. Three of the four parties that had formed the Alliance for European Integration (AIE) re-established the coalition government with a parliamentary majority consisting of 59 members of Parliament out of 101. Liberal Democratic Party leader Vlad Filat (PLDM, 32 seats) was re-elected Prime Minister. Democratic Party leader Marian Lupu (PD, 15 seats) became Speaker of Parliament and Acting President, and remains the AIE candidate for President. The Liberal Party (PL, 12 seats) is led by Mihai Ghimpu, former Acting President of the AIE coalition government from 2009 through the end of 2010. Our Moldova Alliance, led by Serafim Urechean, failed to pass the 4% threshold and in April 2011 merged with PLDM. Two weeks later Urechean was appointed Chairman of the Court of Auditors. The Communist Party (PCRM) remains in opposition, holding 42 seats in Parliament. Mihai Godea was the leader of the PLDM faction in Parliament, but defected in May 2011 to become an independent member and run for Mayor of Chisinau.

Ghimpu served as Acting President from September 2009 to January 2011, when Marian Lupu took over the office of Speaker and the office of Acting President. The AIE coalition failed twice in November and December 2009 to attract the additional eight votes required (61 total) for the Parliament to elect Lupu, which meant that Ghimpu was constitutionally required to dissolve Parliament and call new elections. A September 5, 2010 referendum to replace the system of parliamentary election of the president with direct popular election failed because of low turnout. Parliament was dissolved September 28 in preparation for new parliamentary elections on November 28, 2010. In those elections, the AIE scored a 59-seat majority in Parliament, falling two seats short of the 61 votes constitutionally required to elect a President. The Alliance parties did not initiate the process of presidential elections as they did not have the two votes needed for the procedure to be successful. Instead, the AIE asked the Constitutional Court to interpret Article 78 of the Constitution, pointing to the lack of legal provisions that would forbid repeated dissolution of Parliament after failing to elect a President, and sought the Court's opinion regarding the propriety of adopting a law that would allow Parliament to elect a President with fewer votes, thus altering Article 78. The Court has 6 months to provide an opinion. In the meantime, the Constitutional Court requested that the Venice Commission provide a consultative opinion.

The AIE government has launched an ambitious reform effort and placed a clear priority on Moldova's relations with the West and integration with the European Union. It has pledged to respect and promote human and civil rights, improved relations with neighboring Romania, and negotiated a difficult agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help alleviate the effects of the global economic crisis.

The Government of Moldova generally recognizes freedom of religion in practice, although it has continued to deny registration to some religious groups. A new law on religion, passed in July 2007, liberalized registration procedures for religious groups, transferred responsibility for registration from the State Service for Religion to the Ministry of Justice, and permitted congregations to switch denominational allegiance. Of the 24 groups that submitted applications after the new procedures came into effect, only the Unification Church, the Armenian Christian Apostolic Denomination, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Patriarchate have been successfully registered. Orthodox Christian, Muslim, and Protestant organizations continue to encounter bureaucratic obstacles to registration, and Jehovah's Witnesses recount numerous instances of social discrimination and abusive behavior. In August 2009, the majority Moldovan Orthodox Church successfully blocked a concert by Seventh-day Adventists in the public square next to the Orthodox cathedral. In December 2009, a menorah displayed in a public square was dismantled and removed by members of an Orthodox Christian group, whose leader recited anti-Semitic rhetoric. The Government of Moldova publicly condemned the event, and the menorah was reassembled a few blocks away at the Holocaust Memorial without further incident. In December 2010, the lighting of the menorah was celebrated on the private grounds of the Kedem Jewish Community Center. The official registration of the Islamic League in March 2011 was met with protests by the Party of Communists and by Orthodox Christian and Romanian nationalist groups. Despite these protests, the government has not rescinded the registration. A number of minority religious groups in the breakaway region of Transnistria, which is not under the control of the Moldovan Government, have continued to be denied registration and are subjected to harassment by Transnistrian authorities.

Transnistria
The population of the Moldovan region of Transnistria, which includes most of the land between the Nistru/Dniester River and the Ukrainian border as well as the city of Tighina/Bender, is approximately 40% Romanian/Moldovan, 28% Ukrainian, and 23% Russian (est.). Separatist forces maintain control of the Transnistrian region. Moldova has offered the region rather broad cultural and political autonomy. The dispute has strained Moldova's relations with Russia. Tensions grew between the central government in Chisinau and predominantly Russian-speaking Transnistria after the adoption of the law that established Romanian as the official language in the Republic of Moldova in 1989 and degenerated into an armed conflict in the spring and summer of 1992. The July 1992 cease-fire agreement signed by Moldovan President Snegur and Russian President Yeltsin established a tripartite peacekeeping force comprised of Moldovan, Russian, and Transnistrian units.

Negotiations to resolve the conflict continue, and the cease-fire is still in effect. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is trying to facilitate a negotiated settlement and has had an observer mission in place since 1993. In July 2002, OSCE, Russian, and Ukrainian mediators approved a document setting forth a blueprint for reuniting Moldova under a federal system. Over the next year and a half, the settlement talks alternated between periods of forward momentum and periods of no progress. In February 2003, the U.S. and European Union (EU) imposed visa restrictions against the Transnistrian leadership. In April 2003, the Moldovan Government and the Transnistrian authorities agreed to establish a joint commission to draft a constitution for a reintegrated state. However, fundamental disagreements over the division of powers remained, and a settlement proved elusive.

President Vladimir Voronin decided not to sign a Russian-brokered settlement with Transnistria in November 2003; the proposal--seen by many as not in Moldova’s best interest--sparked opposition protests. During the summer of 2004, the Transnistrian separatists forcibly closed several Romanian language Latin-script schools in the region, for which the regime was subject to international condemnation. In 2005, the Transnistrian regime prevented farmers on the right bank of the Nistru River from working their fields on the left bank. The OSCE Mission to Moldova eventually mediated solutions to these crises.

After a 15-month pause, the sides met for a renewed round of settlement negotiations in October 2005. Mediators from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE joined the Moldovan and Transnistrian representatives at the talks. In addition, the U.S. and EU joined the talks as observers. However, subsequent "5+2" negotiations have made little progress on a settlement or on withdrawal of Russian forces from Moldova: Russia still has weapons and munitions of the Operational Group of Russian Forces (formerly the Russian 14th Army) stationed in Transnistria, although it pledged to remove them under a timetable established at the 1999 OSCE Ministerial--the so-called "Istanbul Commitments." However, there has been no progress on Russian withdrawals since early 2004.

In response to Moldova's call for international monitoring of the border, in December 2005 the EU dispatched a Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) to help stem the flow of illegal trade across the eastern border with Ukraine. In March 2006, Ukraine and Moldova began implementing a May 2003 customs agreement, under which Transnistrian companies seeking to engage in cross-border trade must register in Chisinau. Despite the protests of Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov, most major Transnistrian businesses have subsequently registered. In what is seen as a response to the new customs procedures, the Smirnov regime began a boycott of formal 5+2 talks in March 2006, which stalled negotiations for several years. Since then, the 5+2 has been able to meet only for informal discussions. Hopes that the 5+2 meeting in Moscow on June 21, 2011 would decide upon the resumption of formal talks were not met.

In 2008 Chisinau authorities proposed creation of joint Moldova-Transnistria confidence-building measures working groups (CBMs WG) at the level of deputy ministers to address outstanding issues in economy and trade, transportation, ecology, healthcare, humanitarian aid, and other areas. The activity of these groups ceased during parliamentary campaigns and government change in Moldova in 2009 and resumed with new faces on the Moldovan side of the table in late 2009. With the exception of the healthcare WG, which managed to maintain more or less constant cooperation and ensured resolution of some practical issues, the records of all other WGs varied from exchange of information to no results.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Moldova's Parliament approved the country's membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States and a CIS charter on economic union in April 1994.

In 1995, the country became the first former Soviet republic admitted to the Council of Europe. In addition to its membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace, Moldova also belongs to the United Nations, the OSCE, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Moldova is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In 1998, Moldova contributed to the founding of GUAM, a regional cooperative agreement made up of Georgia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan, in addition to Moldova. Although the agreement initially included a declaration of mutual defense, Moldova has since declared its disinterest in participating in any GUAM-based mutual defense initiative. Moldova has been involved in information exchange, trade and transportation, border control, and energy projects issues within this regional agreement. In 2006, the organization's members voted to change the name to the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development--GUAM.

The past 6 years have seen significant developments in Moldova's relations with the West. In 2005, the European Union (EU) appointed a Special Representative for Moldova and the European Commission opened an office in Chisinau. In February 2005, Brussels and Chisinau agreed on a European Union-Moldova Action Plan, a "roadmap" of reforms to strengthen the democratic and economic situation of the country and facilitate its Euro-Atlantic integration. In accordance with the 2005 Action Plan, Moldova has begun to harmonize its laws with those of the EU. Although Moldova has made some progress toward laying the structural and legislative foundation for reform, the EU has emphasized that more implementation is needed. In 2008, the EU proposed a new Eastern Partnership Initiative that would substantially upgrade the level of political engagement with Moldova and five other countries in the EU “neighborhood”, including the prospect of a new generation of Association Agreements and increased financial assistance.

Relations with the Russian Federation remain troubled because of the presence of Russian forces in the separatist Transnistria region, renewed restrictions on Moldovan exports to Russia, and reassessments of Moldova's history during the Soviet period.

Sources: