Berlin Plus Package, human rights in Transnistrian region discussed at meeting of chief negotiators in 1+1 format

Chisinau, 31 July /MOLDPRES/ - The chief negotiator on behalf of Chisinau, Deputy Prime Minister Cristina Lesnic has had a meeting in the 1+1 format with the chief negotiator on behalf of Tiraspol; the two officials discussed a wide range of issues. The meeting took place in a videoconference format at the Chisinau-based headquarters of the OSCE Mission, with the participation of representatives of mediators and observers, the Reintegration Policies Bureau has reported.  

Cristina Lesnic welcomed the resumption of the 1+1 discussions, postponed after the beginning of the pandemic. She noted Chisinau’s openness for discussing aspects included in the Berlin Plus Package and the ones highlighted during the management of the sanitary crisis, which created more difficulties.   

The deputy PM asked to unconditionally ensure the free movement of the residents from both banks of Dniester. At the same time, Chisinau’s representatives said that they would not accept the politicizing of the subject of the Latin-script schools and the conditioning by Tiraspol of the movement of those about 400 teachers and over 1,500 pupils and asked to resume the free movement as of 1 August 2020. Moreover, the concerned categories of people have health insurance policies and belong to the health centres from the right bank of Dniester.   

Another subject tackled by Chisinau deals with the access of farmland owners for tilling and carriage of agricultural production. Current data shows that about 27 per cent of the lands remained untilled because of the movement restrictions imposed by Tiraspol. In the context, the chief negotiator, Cristina Lesnic, asked for a visit by specialists from Chisinau and Tiraspol, in order to find out the situation on the spot.    

As for the topic of communications, Chisinau reiterated the technical and legislative conditions in which the new operator should fit, in order to get and preserve the licence.  

As far as the health care subjects are concerned, the Moldovan side in the process of talks emphasized the impediments faced because of the lack of convening of the working group for health care. Also, Chisinau proposed to Tiraspol the draft roadmap for the implementation of the World Health Organization’s recommendations on the prevention and fight against Covid-19, which was refused by Tiraspol.   

At the same time, Lesnic reiterated the need to observe the earlier agreements as to the access of Chisinau officials to the left bank of Dniester.

The chief negotiator said that, in the present circumstances, neither the ombudsman, nor civil society’s representatives and journalists can move freely. Chisinau showed openness for holding meetings of the sectoral working groups at the level of experts, in order to discuss issues on health, as well as the observance of the human rights in the Transnistrian region. Hence, Cristina Lesnic made a proposal to ensure the free movement of the ombudsman’s institution to the left bank of Dniester and convene the working group, in order to discuss individual cases of human rights’ infringement, described as inadmissible.   

Referring to the registration and re-registration of vehicles with neutral plates, Chisinau proposed the organization of visits on the spot by experts of the Public Services Agency to the Tiraspol and Chisinau offices, in order to assess the level of citizens’ satisfaction, introduce the ‘’the living queue’’ in parallel with the online scheduling.  

The chief negotiator stressed that the freedom of movement, provided for in the protocol decisions, is not observed because of the illegal posts set by Tiraspol. The chief negotiator on behalf of Tiraspol permanently invokes the fact that he had no mandate to discuss the issue of posts.    

At the same time, Cristina Lesnic asked the OSCE Mission in Moldova to take note of the positions set forth at the meeting.