The Newsletter is based on the radio programme broadcast on December 12 th , 2016, produced by the Foreign Policy Association of Moldova in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES). The programme is broadcast on the Radio Moldova public channel. The programme is part of the FES/APE“Foreign Policy Dialogues” Project. The content can be reproduced by mentioning the source. NEWSLETTER MONTHLY BULLETIN DECEMBER 2016 NR.12(130) Synthesis and Foreign Policy Debates The materials are realized by Lina Grau, foreign policy expert and programme coordinator with APE. TOPICS OF THE EDITION: 1. This newsletter is dedicated to the impressions on the year 2016 and how the past year was seen by PirkkaTapiola, the Head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, Nadejda Hriptievschi, programme director at the Legal Resource Centre from Moldova, Corneliu Ciurea, political analyst and the historian Octavian Țicu. The last period was marked by several important events for the Republic of Moldova. The European Union, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development(EBRD) and the European Investment Bank(EIB) have provided financial support in the amount of 92 million Euro for the construction of the Ungheni­Chisinau gas pipeline, which will finalize the connection of the Republic of Moldova to the pipeline system in Romania. EIB and EBRD have provided loans of 41 million each, and the EU has provided a grant in the amount of 10 million euros. The pipeline will be built by the state enterprise “Vestmoldtransgaz”. The total cost for the construction of the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline is estimated at 113 million euros. The first part of the project- the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline- was completed in 2014. The contract with Gazprom for natural gas delivery to the Republic of Moldova was extended by three years, until 2019. The deputy Minister of Economy, Valeriu Triboi, said that in the first quarter of 2016, Moldova has bought gas from Gazprom at the price of 223 dollars per one thousand cubic meters, while the average price for the entire year will be about 190 dollars. The price for the first quarter of the next year will be known until January 15, 2017. The businessman Vlad Plahotniuc was unanimously elected chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova(PDM) at the PDM Congress which took place on December 24th. The Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, was elected first vice chairman of the party. Friday, December 23rd, the inauguration ceremony of the president-elect, Igor Dodon, took place. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, invited Igor Dodon to pay an official visit to Moscow on January 17th. This will be Dodon’s first visit abroad in his capacity as president, after which he will visit Brussels. Igor Dodon was also invited to pay an official visit to Belarus. At its congress held Sunday, December 18th, the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova(PSRM) elected the former Prime Minister, Zinaida Greceanii, as chairman of the party, to replace Igor Dodon. The Socialists have also adopted a resolution advocating against many objectives set by the pro-European governments in the last seven years. Among other things, it advocates for the denunciation of the Association Agreement with the EU. In its congress resolution, PSRM says it will“do its best” to obtain parliamentary elections in 2017 and promises not to form coalition with the parties of the current majority. Vadim Krasnoselskii, the new Transnistrian leader, assured that the negotiations in the 5+2 format will continue. Speaking after his return from his first visit to Moscow in his capacity as leader of Transnistria, Krasnoselskii also said that one of the priorities of Tiraspol will be to strengthen the integrationist economic relations with Russia. Romania will increase the number of scholarships provided to young people from Moldova until 2019, under a protocol signed by the Romanian ambassador to Chisinau, Daniel Ionita, and the Moldovan Minister of Education, Corina Fusu. Recently, in an interview to the Russian television, the President Igor Dodon qualified Romania’s scholarship programme for the young people from Moldova a “Romanization” programme and urged Russia to increase substantially its offer. The EU Delegation to Chisinau, the World Bank and IMF have opposed the adoption of the Law on the liberalization of capital and fiscal amnesty, voted by the Parliament as a matter of urgency in the first reading on December 16th. In its statement, the IMF writes“the law, in its current form, would jeopardize the measures aimed at fighting against corruption and hamper the fight against the money laundering and fraud.” The speaker of Parliament, Andrian Candu, said in an interview for the Radio Free Europe that the Law on fiscal amnesty will be voted in the second reading only after consultations with the external partners. Pirkka Tapiola: The year 2016 has certainly been not boring The head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, Pirkka Tapiola, is talking about how the year 2016 was in terms of the EU-Moldova relations. Lina Grâu: Ambassador, how do you see the year 2016? It has started with a rather difficult situation- with no government in place, suspended foreign finance, internal problems- and it is finishing with a new president who declared he wants to renegotiate the agreements with the EU. Pirkka Tapiola: Well, it certainly has not been a boring year, let’s start by saying that. Now you mentioned that the relationship between Moldova and the EU was a little bit cautious at the beginning of the year. I think you saw the European Council conclusions from February. You saw a certain amount of Monthly Bulletin, Nr. 12(130), December 2016 64, Sciusev str. MD-2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, Tel-Fax:+373 22 21 09 86 Website: www.ape.md E-mail: office@ape.md