Tatishchev: Moldova’s plan to leave the CIS is based on politics, without taking the economy into account
The plans announced by the Moldovan authorities to leave the CIS are not based on economic reasons, but demonstrate the commitment to the policy of European integration, Nikita Tatishchev, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research, told RIA Novosti.
On Monday, Moldavian Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi said that the department had begun the necessary procedures for the republic’s complete withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States after the denunciation of key agreements on joining the CIS, namely the founding agreement and annex to it, as well as the CIS charter. In accordance with the CIS charter, Moldova will have to notify the organization of its withdrawal one year in advance. Earlier, in an interview with RIA Novosti, Secretary General of the Commonwealth Sergei Lebedev said that Moldova and Ukraine have minimized their participation in the activities of the Commonwealth bodies, but there have been no requests to leave the CIS from their side, therefore, legally and factually, they remain part of the organization.
“The Moldovan authorities are following the path of forced European integration and are demonstrating to their population the absence of an alternative to this path in all possible ways, including denying any other integration associations that are generally beneficial for Moldova. In this case, not any economic benefit is taken into account, but there is a political calculation,” Tatishchev said.
According to him, the Moldovan authorities are experiencing quite strong pressure from Brussels regarding withdrawal from the CIS and are largely implementing the guidelines that they receive from the EU. The agency’s interviewee emphasized that Moldova started the process of cutting ties with the CIS quite a long time ago. He recalled that the country is gradually denouncing certain agreements within the CIS, moving to the format of bilateral cooperation.
“The process of leaving the CIS will most likely last for quite a long time. For a year, maybe more... Chișinău wants to make this process painless for the country, but, on the other hand, it demonstratively shows that the European path is something predetermined,” Tatishchev said.
He emphasized that the Moldovan authorities do not take into account the opinion of the numerous CIS supporters in the country. “There is actually an imposition of a certain development path on Moldova without regard to the economic benefits that accompany Moldova’s presence in the CIS. The country is not following the path of developing economic ties with all those states with which it could develop, but, to put it in simpler terms, is putting all its eggs in one basket – in the EU,” Tatishchev continued.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that in the event of leaving the CIS, one of the potential sensitive issues for Moldova could be the visa issue. The expert explained that Moldova may face the issue of introducing a visa regime and mirror measures on the part of the Commonwealth countries. “And this issue is already sensitive, because this is an issue of labor movement (of migrant workers from Moldova - ed.),” the expert stated.
The analyst noted that Moldova's exit from the CIS will negatively affect the organization, but will not become critical. At the same time, according to him, this will be to a certain extent a negative marker for integration in the post-Soviet space. However, as the agency’s interviewee noted, many “old” unions and international organizations are in a certain crisis situation today. “The CIS has shown its viability and stability precisely due to the fact that anti-crisis management was already embedded in the DNA of the CIS: the organization was formed at the time of the monstrous economic crisis that shook all countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thus, the CIS has experience in how to behave in a crisis situation, and experience in being in a state of instability,” Tatishchev stated.