Tiraspol, February 18. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Potential of «Constant Meeting on Political Affairs …» (the 5+2 format including the sides of the conflict Moldova and Pridnestrovie, the mediators Russia, Ukraine and OSCE and the observers the EU and the USA) as one of the main negotiation platforms on the Moldo-Pridnestrovian settlement can be used more efficiently. The Pridnestrovie's Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatyev writes about it in the article published in the online version of the Russia in Global Policy Magazine.
«Pridnestrovie recognizes that functions of the 5+2 format and also potential and experience of its participants should be implemented more efficiently through imparting tempo and regularity to the dialogue," it is noted in the publication.
According to Ignatyev, there is full necessary institutional background for dynamic work of the Constant meeting: new state authorities were formed in Moldova and Pridnestrovie after elections, Acting OSCE Chairman Sebastian Kurz and also his special representative in the 5+2 format Wolf Dietrich Heim met with the leaders of the sides.
«There is also a background for work on a number of old unresolved problems of the negotiation process, and their settlement would be extremely helpful for the people of the PMR and the RM. Some of these problems are of the same age and even older than the Constant Meeting itself," the diplomat states.
However, as the MFA head notes, these factors itself cannot provide efficient progress, because the sides should have political will and should be ready for compromise to make it.
«The situation concerning implementation of the Berlin Protocol provisions clearly shows a lack of readiness of official Chisinau," the diplomat notes. According to Vitaly Ignatyev, pro-active, more consistent and deep involvement of all international partners can help in reanimation of the negotiation process between Moldova and Pridnestrovie.
It is important to remind that the Berlin Protocol was signed subsequent to the results of the 5+2 format negotiations round at the beginning of June, 2016 in the capital of Germany. According to the document, Chisinau and Tiraspol will try to reach concrete agreements on apostilization of the Pridnestrivan final qualification certificates, on ecological and telecommunication issues. The sides will also continue working on the problem concerning participation of the Pridnestrovian cars with license plates in the international movement.
However, real progress has been made only in interaction in the field of ecology. Official Chisinau has aborted other protocol provisions blaming the protests of society and namely the declaration «About Red Lines in the Pridnestrovian Settlement». There have also been acting Moldavan diplomats among the signers of the declaration besides the civic activists. The Pridnestrovian and Moldavan media reported after publication of the declaration that it can be used by official Chisinau as a pretext for the Berlin protocol blockade.
Even before the publication of the declaration «About Red Lines …» in Yevgeny Sholor's article in Newsmaker, it was reported that due to the fact that officials of Moldova couldn't criticize the Berlin Protocol which didn't fit into tactics of stage-by-stage pressure upon the PMR by Chisinau for diplomatic reasons, it was decided to involve civil society.
