Romania provides UN agency with funding to help Moldova gather agriculture data

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today that Romania has provided it with more than half a million dollars to aid its neighbour Moldova – the first time Romania has ever entered into a contribution agreement with the UN agency. FAO said Romania will provide some $695,000, which the UN agency will use to provide technical assistance to Moldova during its first General Agriculture Census, to be conducted in early 2011. It noted that with the contribution agreement, Romania was also putting its not-so-distant past as a recipient country behind it.

The two-year project will establish a reliable system of agricultural statistics in Moldova and harmonize it with European Union practices. The Moldovan Government collects annual data on registered enterprises, those larger than 10 hectares – but lacks reliable data regarding the country's thousands of small, family-run subsistence farms, under one hectare in size, that are the most vulnerable to food insecurity situations.

The census will give special focus to this type of farm-holdings and will enable future Moldovan policy-makers to make sound market-oriented decisions, FAO said, adding that it will also provide this small, struggling nation with key benchmark data that will help it calculate the impact of globalization and climate change on its agriculture and rural sectors. About 75 per cent of the land in Moldova is agricultural and the country’s future economic growth depends upon improving farming. After the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, the country went through two phases of agricultural land privatization and is now planning for integration with the larger European market.

News source: UN News Center link: article

Moldova's president denounces border treaty with Romania

Mihai Ghimpu, the acting president of Moldova, has described a border treaty recently signed by the country's government with Romania as "illegal and unconstitutional". The move heightened the political atmosphere ahead of early parliamentary elections on 28 November. EurActiv Romania reports. Ghimpu, who has been acting president of Moldova since 2009 because the country's parliament has repeatedly failed to elect a head of state (see 'Background'), denounced the border treaty, the signature of which was recently hailed by European Comission President José Manuel Barroso.
Speaking to daily newspaper Stirea Zilei, Ghimpu said he would challenge the treaty in the Constitutional Court, if and when it is ratified by parliament.

The statements by Ghimpu should be seen in the context of forthcoming early parliamentary elections.
A poll published on Monday (15 November) predicted that the Communist Party would obtain 39 seats in the 101-seat parliament, followed by PLDM, the Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Vlad Filat, which would obtain 33 seats. PD, the Democratic Party of Marian Lupu, a politician seen as close to the Communists but who joined the Alliance for European Integration in 2009, would secure 16 seats and Ghimpu's liberal PL party was expected to obtain 13 seats. The parties of former allies in the Alliance of European Integration have been increasingly divided, with the Communist Party, led by former President Vladimir Vorinin, targeting some of them as possible future allies.

On a visit to Bucharest on 8 November, Barroso welcomed the signature of the border treaty, calling it a "demonstration that Moldova is getting closer to the European Union". Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said that by signing the treaty, the two countries hoped to "discourage the obsessive allegations of some political circles in Moldova" concerning "an imaginary irredentist agenda of Romania". Moldova was part of Romania until 1940, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union.
The signature of the border treaty is also timely in view of Romania's ambitions to join Schengen in March 2011. Indeed, the border of Romania with Moldova, a former Soviet Republic, will become the external border of the European Union.

News source: EurActiv link: article

New momentum in EU-Moldova relations

The European Parliament has welcomed the latest moves by the Republic of Moldova to improve relations with the EU and the country's willingness to seek a solution to the Transnistrian issue. In a resolution adopted on Thursday, MEPs call for a "more robust EU role" in mediating in the regional conflict.The non-binding resolution stresses the substantial progress in EU-Moldova relations over the last year and calls on the Commission to swiftly adopt a visa liberalisation plan for Moldovan citizens.
MEPs also welcome the willingness of the Moldovan government to seek a solution to the dispute over Transnistria, a breakaway territory located at the eastern Moldovan border with Ukraine and governed de facto by a secessionist force since early 1990s.  This is in line with statements made last May by EU Foreign Policy High Representative Catherine Ashton after the Moldovan government presented an "aide memoire" confirming its readiness to further engage with all its partners.

MEPs "support the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova" and call upon all parties to return to formal talks "in the 5+2 format" which brings to the negotiating table Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Transnistria and the OSCE, with the US and the EU as observers.  A "more robust EU role" could be useful in finding a solution to the problem, especially by fostering confidence-building and supporting joint projects with local communities, believe MEPs. Parliament also approved the recent initiative launched by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dimitri Medvedev (known as the "Meseberg initiative") to create an EU-Russia Security Committee to discuss regional issues such as a settlement of the Transnistria conflict. Lastly, the resolution notes "the very good start" to negotiations on the Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova (in January this year) and calls for a clean pre-election campaign ahead of national elections on 28 November.

News source: European Parliament link: article