Recently a new ambassador of Germany, Cord Meier-Klodt, was appointed to Bucharest. He is definitely not a political neophyte in the region. In 2016 during the German OSCE Chairmanship he was a Special Representative for Transnistrian conflict settlement. In 2014-2015 Meier-Klodt coordinated the work of German Foreign Ministry in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Besides, he has a substantial field experience in Russia: in 1992-1995 and 2002-2005 he worked at German Consulate in Sankt-Petersburg and German Embassy in Moscow. The former Ambassador Werner Hans Lauk was not able to boast of such an experience in East European affairs. That’s why this new appointment looks like a reinforcement of German diplomacy and not simply a logical career development for Mr. Meier-Klodt.
The first press-conference of the new Ambassador demonstrated it clearly. He was quite diplomatic while answering questions about corruption and political unrest in Romania. But when he was asked about the Transnistrian conflict settlement and Romanian contribution to that Mr. Meier-Klodt made a very important political statement. He “would recommend” to devote more attention in the current Romanian policy towards Republic of Moldova to the priority of making Moldova an “inclusive society”. It would help to further the European course of the country, to guarantee stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity for Republic of Moldova.
The new Ambassador assumes that the development of the “inclusive society” would be possible by:
– Working out a special status for Transnistria within a sovereign Moldova;
– Reinforcing the Gagauzian autonomy;
– Securing the rights of national minorities;
– Fulfilling the agenda of International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in Moldova.
It should be noted that after Mr. Basescu left office the Romanian policy towards Moldova shifted from issues of identity to more constructive engagement. Bucharest is favoring the European integration of Moldova while it supports the reform agenda in Chisinau (also financially) and contributes substantially to making Moldova independent in terms of energy supplies (both in gas and electricity). It is highly questionable how the changes of the government in Romania itself influence its policy towards Moldova. But we can assume that if governed by national-liberal forces Romania draws attention both to true Europeanization of Moldova (fighting corruption etc.) and to geopolitics (containing the Russian influence in the country). The policy of the Romanian government headed by Social Democrats seems to be focused more on geopolitics. Social Democrats are an exclusive partner for the Democratic Party of Vlad Plahotniuc, so the reform agenda turns out to be formal here. Nevertheless, both political camps in Romania tackle citizens of Moldova as Romanians living on the other bank of Prut river. National minority rights are discussed predominantly in the context of securing the rights of “Romanians” on the territory of Transnistria.
The new German Ambassador referred to those aspects which the Romanian policy in Moldova explicitly lacks. Firstly, while accepting generally the idea of a special status for Transnistria, Romania is skeptical about any power-sharing of Chisinau with Tiraspol within a unified state. Romania traditionally prefers to see Moldova as a unitary country, arguing that any power-sharing would jeopardize the European integration of Moldova and leave Moldova in the Russian sphere of influence. Moldova seemed to find support in Bucharest by obstructing the Berlin protocol which was negotiated between Chisinau and Tiraspol by German OSCE Chairmanship in summer 2016. That time it was argued that small steps policy would lead to de facto legitimization of the Transnistrian statehood.
Secondly, the issues of protecting minority rights and developing the Gagauzian autonomy are accepted as problematic at the OSCE level. OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities has been leading a structured dialogue on these issues for years, also by supporting the negotiations between the Moldovan national parliament and the Gagauzian parliament. The Moldovan government has still not adopted a strategy on integrating national minorities which would embrace such issues as preservation of culture and language of national minorities, support of learning state language.
Last but not least International Holocaust Remembrance Day should be mentioned. Moldova joined to mark this day only in 2015. In Moldova the genocide against Jews in the Nazi times is still not rooted in the national memory and not referred to as a great tragedy. It is still not remembered that Romanians sent some 100,000 Jews to Transnistria just from Chernivtsi where most of them faced their death. In historical discourses of national minorities it is perceived as disrespect. “Aufarbeitung der Geschichte” (work on history) is needed, so the Germans.
Apparently the Transnistrian settlement will be one of the key issues which Mr. Meier-Klodt will discuss with the Romanian government on a regular basis in order to push Bucharest towards supporting the OSCE agenda. He will closely coordinate his activities with the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship whose Representative for Transnistrian settlement process Wolf Dietrich Heim has already promised to continue fully the policy of the German predecessor. Besides, he argued that there are favorable circumstances for the Transnistrian settlement at the moment. The appointment of Mr. Meier-Klodt to Bucharest seems to be one of them.
Articolul este publicat în cadrul proiectului „Dosarele conflictului transnistrean. Soluții pentru dezvoltarea societății pe cele două maluri ale Nistrului” este finanțat de către Ministerul Afacerilor Externe (MAE) prin programul României de cooperare pentru dezvoltare (RoAid) și implementat cu sprijinul Programului Națiunilor Unite pentru Dezvoltare (UNDP) – Centrul Regional pentru Europa și Asia Centrală.
