Foreign Policy Association together with Friedrich­Ebert-Stiftung offer you a newsletter on foreign policy and European integration issues of the Republic of Moldova. The newsletter is part of the “Foreign Policy Dialogue” joint Project. NEWSLETTER MONTHLY BULLETIN AUGUST 2020 NR.8(174) Synthesis and Foreign Policy Debates The newsletter is developed by Sorina Ştefârţă, editor-coordinator TOPICS OF THE EDITION: 1. Liliana Palihovici, president of the„Institutum Vrtutes Civilis” Association: “Without the involvement of young people, we will still be discussing the same issues 30 years from now” 2. Editorial by Victor Chirilă, executive director of APE: “Republic of Moldova, a broken state” 3. Alexei Tulbure, political analyst, diplomat, founder of the Oral History Institute of Moldova: “The contexts in which we have become visible on the world map so far have not been the happiest” 4. Expert opinion. Dionis Cenușă: “Belarus, a new‘velvet revolution’ in the Eastern Partnership?” News in brief September 1st marked the sixth anniversary of the provisional application of the Association Agreement with the EU and of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. In a brief assessment made on this occasion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Oleg Țulea, mentioned that“in September 2014 our country began a long journey of rapprochement with the EU”, during which time hundreds of laws were transposed into the national legislation. According to the European documents, 65% of Moldova’s exports go to the EU market, and the state has benefited from significant EU assistance programs.“Our European path is a continuous one. This autumn we will focus on updating the Association Agenda, which will set the reform priorities for the coming years. This period showed that the Association Agreement, implicitly the Free Trade Area, is more than just an agreement- it is an anchor that, despite the constraints inherent to this path, keeps the Republic of Moldova on the path of European integration, reflecting our strategic aspirations for the European integration”, the minister also said. “Six years ago, together with our friends from the Republic of Moldova, we embarked on an ambitious but promising path, said, on the same occasion, HE Peter Michalko, Ambassador of the European Union in Chisinau. Since then, thousands of products from the Republic of Moldova have reached the EU standards, becoming of higher quality and thus being more and more present on the EU market. At the same time, with the help of millions of euros earned from exports, tens of thousands of jobs have been created in the country”. He also emphasized that“efforts are needed in areas such as the rule of law and justice- for the state institutions to be at the service of citizens- but also to meet EU standards in new areas, such as the quality of food of animal origin, so as to attract even more investment, to increase exports even more”. “Through our development and assistance programmes over the years, the European Union has shown its friendship and solidarity. We will continue to stay with you, because we are confident in the European vocation of the Republic of Moldova and, especially, in the right to a better life of its people”, concluded Ambassador Peter Michalko. Dumitru Socolan and Dan Neculăescu, secretaries of state in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Chisinau and Bucharest, led a new round of inter-ministerial political consultations. The diplomats addressed several topics of common interest, such as regional security, developments in the Transnistrian conflict settlement and the implementation of infrastructure projects. Dumitru Socolan reviewed the main aspects of the dialogue with the EU, focusing on the state of reforms in key areas and reiterated that European integration remains one of the national strategic objectives. The two officials also agreed on the progress in the realization of joint projects, which target priority areas, such as infrastructure, energy, education, culture. It should be mentioned that the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure announced recently that the construction works at the Ungheni-Chisinau Gas Pipeline have been completed. The pipeline can provide about 75% of the country’s average consumption or 60% of the average consumption in the cold period of the year(including the Transnistrian region). The construction works started on 18 February 2019, and the estimated value of the project is about 80 million euros. Independence-29, as a Belorussian OMON bat Sorina Ștefârță On August 27 th , the Republic of Moldova marked its Independence for the 29 th time. The pandemic has radically changed the format of the current anniversary and perhaps this has been for the better, reducing the once inevitable pathos in an electoral year. But the cancellation of the parades Chișinău, 27 August 2020. The traditional laying down of flowers... did not save us from the constant philosophical and already rhetorical question “where did we start, and did we get where we wanted to?”... In fact, the questions (existential or not) are many and some of them come with answers from the protagonists of the current edition of our newsletter, Liliana Palihovici and Alexei Tulbure. They do it without pretending to know the absolute truth. They do it, looking back(sometimes) with anger, at the things that could have happened but didn’t happen, but also with optimism in the future. Maybe that’s still possible? And we all want to believe that it is possible. Monthly Bulletin, Nr. 8(174), AUGUST 2020 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