Authors: Victor Chirilă, Bianca Toma, Alexandru Damian, Oana Ganea
December 2021
The Strategic Partnership between Romania and the Republic of Moldova is one of the most ambitious Romanian foreign policy plans. Its progress, its achievements or failures are good indicators of Romania’s ability to play an important role at regional and European level. The 10th anniversary of the partnership of 2020 – supplemented by significant policy changes and geopolitical developments – was a good opportunity to assess what may or may not have worked on the bilateral agenda.
The Romanian Center for European Policies and the Foreign Policy Association of the Republic of Moldova have recently published an independent evaluation of the partnership. We set out to highlight which directions and measures of the Strategic Partnership were satisfactory, what are the key issues that could be improved, what bottlenecks were encountered and – perhaps most importantly – which priorities should be considered in the future to ensure this strategic document is centered on Chisinau’s most urgent needs and to support its European path.
This report is probably one of the most comprehensive analyses of the Strategic Partnership and it is a lengthy effort by the two organizations with the direct help of a community of experts, high-ranking officials and decision-makers from Bucharest and Chisinau. This review is aimed at providing a general evaluation of the Strategic Partnership and of its priority topics, ranking key projects and priorities, depending on their urgency and importance, and assessing the future direction of the partnership in light of the new challenges and of their dynamics.
Important achievements
Major concrete infrastructure projects and projects essential for local communities, such as the Iasi – Ungheni gas pipe which would connect Moldova to the European energy market and it would ensure energy independence, the programme for the rehabilitation of 1.000 kindergartens or the National Mobile Emergency Rescue Service (SMURD). Some of the respondents indicated as part of the achievements of the Strategic Partnership the study scholarships in pre-university, university and post-university education offered to Moldovan citizens, the donation of 196 school buses, the support in the rehabilitation of school infrastructure and of several cultural landmarks.
Main obstacles and shortcomings
The will and direction given by the political decision-makers and, in particular, the inconsistency of the political decision-makers in Chisinau are seen, by most of the experts interviewed, as the main obstacles in the progress of the objectives of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Other minority opinions, however, point to some relevant aspects that should be taken into account when discussing future directions for the partnership: the dominance and influence of the Russian media in Moldova, with an impact on the visibility of any support offered by Romania, but also the weak collaboration, often influenced by political preferences. The respondents underlined the limited focus on fighting corruption and on supporting functional institutions in Chisinau, as well as the lack of relevant position-taking by Bucharest when political leaders in Chisinau were straying away from any principle of good governance.
Political evaluation
Which were the political mandates – both in Bucharest and in Chisinau – during which most relevant progress was made on the bilateral agenda? The Victor Ponta Government (PSD) – there were several premierships between May 2012 and November 2015 – is appreciated, by almost half of the respondents, as the most prolific political period for the Strategic Partnership, followed at closely by Dacian Cioloş’s technocratic Government.
Future intervention needs
The most important challenges to which the Strategic Partnership should respond in the future are: (i) economic cooperation – in particular post-COVID-19 recovery, (ii) the development of large infrastructure projects (road, rail, air transport connections) and projects in the energy sector, and (iii) security, as indicated by the respondents. However, large strategic projects should be undertaken with a clear action plan and monitoring indicators to allow tracking and evaluating progress, regardless of what happens in the political landscape of the two countries.
In the field of security, expectations are multiple: from a more active and applied approach to the issue of Transnistria, to the fight against disinformation from the Kremlin or military cooperation. It is to be expected, as most experts show, that security will become one of the priorities of the Strategic Partnership. Concrete directions of action are mentioned, such as telecommunications, with critical infrastructure or know how transfer to the Republic of Moldova. Romania should undertake a more visible role in providing support in the field of cybersecurity, both in terms of protecting critical systems, as well as in terms of fighting disinformation flooding Moldova, originating in the Russian Federation.
Some minority, but relevant opinions, pointed to the fact that the Strategic Partnership requires the consolidation of the institutional functionality and, equally important, that it requires better understanding by the authorities, as well as by the population, and, consequently, a more applied communication approach concerning its initiatives.
Full report is available here.
This evaluation – conducted by the Romanian Center for European Policy and the Association for Foreign Policy – is supported by the Black Mars Trust for Regional Cooperation programme of the German Marshall Fund.
