Foreign Press Review

Ukraine might halt supplying power to the countries (including Moldova) that do not accept that the price they pay for it be not lower than the internal prices in Ukraine, Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko said on 31 October.   “Presently, we are holding negotiations with the Moldovan partners. Our position is that power cannot be sold for a price lower than the one on the internal market. Those who agree with it will receive electricity,” Boyko said. The Ukrainian minister’s statement comes against the backdrop of Ukraine’s decision to cut off power supplies to Poland, decision the Ukrainian power ...

The Transnistrian MPs are set to call on the lawmakers of the Russian State Duma to provide Tiraspol with 60 million dollars in financial assistance, because of the precarious financial situation in the breakaway region. A proposal to this effect has been made by the speaker of the self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldovan republic, Yevgeniy Shevchuk. The region’s economics minister, Yelena Chernenko, stated late last September that Transnistria needs a 65-million-dollar financial assistance to cope with the crisis. “This money is strictly necessary. We are ready to call on the leadership of several states to help us, but first and foremost we are calling on the Russian Federation,” ...

EUobserver, 01.10.2007 - Candidatul pro-european Iulia Timosenko este pe cale sa castige alegerile parlamentare din Ucraina, devansandu-l doar cu o diferenta mica de voturi pe Viktor Ianukovici care favorizeaza vectorul moscovit. Aceasta evolutie a situatiei ar putea duce la tulburari politice de natura sa influenteze relatiile Ucrainei atat cu Uniunea Europeana cat si cu Rusia.   Partidele pro-vest ale Iuliei Timosenko si Viktor Iuscenko au acumulat 33 la suta si, respectiv, 15 la suta din voturile participantilor la alegerile de duminica trecuta, conform rezultatelor preliminare publicate luni, 1 Octombrie, de agentia de presa „Unian”. ...

The article Russian Energy Ambitions Targeted published by Wolfgang Proissl and Ed Crooks in the 30 August issue of the Financial Times focuses on an internal document of the European Commission, providing for a series of actions necessary to curb access of foreign companies to the European energy market. The document was issued as the European Commission is set to publish on 19 September a string of proposals “to enhance competitiveness on the European energy market” which triggered instances of speculation as to the “future liberalization of the European energy market”.   In this respect, Russian companies’ ...

Source: Ziua, 11/07/07 Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu has once again proved unable to manage the Romanian diplomacy: yesterday morning, he attended a conference on the role of civil society in the Black Sea region, where EU Special Representative for Moldova Kalman Mizsei made statements running counter to the Romanian foreign policy, statements Minister Cioroianu did not reply to. Kalman Mizsei claimed that the European Union should financially back civil society in Transnistria. Although known as a favourite of George Soros, the Hungary-born diplomat disregarded a research by the Chisinau-based Institute of Public ...

Europe’s Huddled Masses from the 20-26 January issue of The Economist proposes an analysis of mistakes of interpretation and of myths of the migration phenomenon through the light of a World Bank report, Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.   The first myth dispelled by the report is the conviction that Western Europe is the main destination of migrants from the post-communist states, when in fact Russia is the main destination for immigrants, surpassed only by America. The tendency to emigrate to Russia is due partly to ethnic Russians returning to the motherland, but also to the option ...

The 25-31 January edition of the European Voice magazine inserts an article, Isolated Moldova Feels Left out, by Andrew Beatty, which is focused on the issue of the visa regime for Moldova’s population that emerged once Romania joined the EU on 1 January.   To point to the importance of this issue in the two states’ agenda, the author highlights the difficulties thousands of Moldovans are confronting with queuing outside the Romanian consulate in Chisinau in an attempt to travel to Romania for study or work as well as Romanian President Traian Basescu’s visit to Chisinau during which he announced Romania’s ...

The 14-20 December 2006 issue of the European Voice magazine, publishes an article, Amnesty’s Puzzling Excess of Conscience, taken over by The Economist. The article points out Estonia’s experience in managing citizenship issues and the undeserved criticism against the Estonian authorities on the part of some organisation for the protection of human rights, among which Amnesty International. The article’s author says that unlike the current period, when Amnesty International has worked out a lengthy report, Discrimination Must End, demanding radical changes in Estonia’s laws on both language and citizenship, during ...

In the 13-19 January issue, The Economist publishes an article, Germany’s Role in Europe is Changing, which approaches Germany’s capacity of holding the presidency of the EU and G8 Group, now that Germany’s weight on the European stage passes through a contradictory evolution. On one hand, the European public opinion is excited about the agenda of the German EU presidency, which triggered front-page news stories, animated televised discussions, in the conditions when the previous presidencies were either disastrous (Luxembourg’s 2005), or boring (Finland’s 2006).. On the other hand, the Europeans’ expectations ...

In the 12-18 January issue, a Romanian newspaper, Dilema Veche, in concert with EurActiv.ro and Hotnews.ro, publishes a supplement titled “What are we doing in the EU ?”, which inserts, among others, an article, Romania’s Role in Shaping the EU’s Policy on Moldova, by a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, George Dura.   Dura considers that Romania’s position on Moldova will be determined by the following general principles: • Moldova is a European state with tight relations with Romania and future relations with the European Union through Romania; • Moldova should ...