{"id":45353,"date":"2022-03-21T20:24:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T19:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=45353"},"modified":"2022-06-08T11:53:17","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T09:53:17","slug":"rosa-european-values-unprecedented-moldovan-humanitarian-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/rosa-european-values-unprecedented-moldovan-humanitarian-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"European values at the core of unprece\u00addented Moldovan human\u00adi\u00adtarian efforts amidst the tragic war in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo: Michaal Nigro \/\u200b Imago Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many refugees from Southern Ukraine use the border crossing point \u201cPalanca\u201d to get into the Republic of Moldova. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Moldova, a country in the heart of Europe, its current leadership and first and foremost its people, opened not only its borders but also their homes for the suffering neigh\u00adbours. The war in Ukraine has challenged the Eastern European security archi\u00adtecture, empha\u00adsizing the need to take decisive steps toward granting a clear European perspective to the Associated Trio countries.<\/h2>\n

The prospect of the Associated Trio countries\u2019 accession to NATO and\/\u200bor the EU, long regarded in these countries themselves as a key to ensuring security and prosperity, is seen as posing an existential threat by Russia. The contro\u00adversy \u201cinsti\u00adtu\u00adtions vs. geopol\u00aditics\u201d or \u201cEU vs. Russia\u201d, viewed before February 2022 as a strictly political dilemma, has now been trans\u00adformed into a conven\u00adtional war in Ukraine with direct impli\u00adca\u00adtions for adjacent countries and for Europe as a whole.<\/p>\n

The ongoing war in Ukraine both under\u00adlines the imper\u00adative of adapting the European security concept to reflect the vital role played by the partner countries in Eastern Europe and shines a spotlight on destructive depen\u00addencies, and specif\u00adi\u00adcally depen\u00addencies on Russian gas and money.<\/p>\n

The spectre of war<\/h3>\n

The Republic of Moldova has been faced with the very real possi\u00adbility of a military conflict in the Eastern European region for over 30 years, confronted, as it is, with Russian troops on its territory \u2013 the Opera\u00adtional Group of Russian Forces (OGRF) in the Transnis\u00adtrian region. The 1992 war in Moldova, as well as the position and actions taken by the Russian Feder\u00adation during the negoti\u00ada\u00adtions, the 2008 war in Georgia, the annex\u00adation of Crimea in 2014 and the seces\u00adsionist movements in Donbas: all of these, were harbingers of large-scale violence in the Eastern European region, the only question was when and where the violence would erupt.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the memories of the atroc\u00adities of World War II, as well as the peace and prosperity being enjoyed in Europe, and specif\u00adi\u00adcally in the European Union, allowed vigilance to wane, even making the idea of a potential war in the heart of Europe appear incon\u00adceivable. Though the worrying political and social devel\u00adop\u00adments in Russia drew attention and discus\u00adsions on the need for a renewed security archi\u00adtecture in Europe which would accom\u00admodate Russia\u2019s \u201cneeds and demands\u201d were held, the suggestion that a massive Russian military attack might be in the offing did not sound convincing enough. Even in the face of clear warnings that the Russian Feder\u00adation intended to launch a military attack on Ukraine<\/a>, it was still hard to believe that \u201cthe moment\u201d that peace in Europe came to an end had actually arrived.<\/p>\n

European perspective<\/h3>\n

The Russian invasion of Ukraine generated the momentum propelling the three associated countries of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine to sign a formal appli\u00adcation for EU membership. Once Ukraine had lodged its own appli\u00adcation in late February, expec\u00adtation ran high that Moldova\u2019s President Maia Sandu would swiftly follow suit, given that she was elected on a pro-European platform and that the war in Ukraine poses an existential threat for her country as well.<\/p>\n

Potential candidate status is viewed as the only oppor\u00adtunity to ensure peace, stability and economic recovery in the region. Though the war has not yet ended \u2013 Ukraine is subject to heavy and continuous attacks by Russian forces \u2013 it is already clear that the conflict will have severe impacts on Moldova\u2019s economic and social well-being. Moldova has already begun to seek new export and import markets due to the impos\u00adsi\u00adbility of continuing \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d with Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. According to the Moldovan foreign minister, Nicu Popescu, we \u201c\u2026can easily look ahead at a lost decade in terms of democ\u00adratic consol\u00adi\u00addation and economic devel\u00adopment for Ukraine, for Moldova<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

A clear European perspective for Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine at this particular point in time would carry a double signif\u00adi\u00adcance. Firstly, it would reinforce the right of these countries to exercise their sovereign choice and serve as an acknowl\u00adedgement of the continuous respect for inter\u00adna\u00adtional law, norms and principles. Secondly, by offering the prospect of membership, the European Union could demon\u00adstrate its unity and power, and that it stands ready to protect the European values upon which it is based. Given that appli\u00adca\u00adtions for membership have been made, the granting of candidacy status would be a major step towards concep\u00adtually reshaping European security and a sign of strength, unity and desire to protect peace in Europe by safeguarding the indepen\u00addence, sover\u00adeignty and terri\u00adtorial integrity of the partner countries. A hesitant European Union would encourage the Russian Feder\u00adation to continue its \u201cgeopo\u00adlitical and imperi\u00adal\u00adistic\u201d Novorossiya plan, through either hybrid or conven\u00adtional warfare beyond Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Despite the recent state\u00adments by Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, <\/a> who pleaded for a fast track to EU membership for his country alone, suggesting that Moldova and Georgia\u2019s failure to align with the sanctions against Russia indicated that they are unwilling to make a genuine contri\u00adbution towards security in Europe, the EU is still seen to regard the three countries as a group and to appre\u00adciate the delicate nature of the security situa\u00adtions of its Eastern partners. Both Moldova and Georgia have experi\u00adenced war on their territory, both have been facing terri\u00adtorial seces\u00adsionist movements backed by the Russian Feder\u00adation for more than 30 years and both continue to be dependent on Russia in crucial areas, such as energy supplies or trade. Moreover, while Moldova\u2019s consti\u00adtu\u00adtionally enshrined military neutrality limits its scope for military action, that same neutrality is respon\u00adsible for enhancing the country\u2019s resilience and capacity to act as a human\u00adi\u00adtarian hub: Moldova has stepped up to take respon\u00adsi\u00adbility in a major regional security crisis situation and provided refuge to huge numbers of Ukrainians.<\/p>\n

Coping with the refugee crisis<\/h3>\n

In the first 19 days of the war in Ukraine, Moldova received<\/a> over 328,000 refugees and their numbers have been increasing hour by hour. At the time of writing, about 101,000 of these refugees remain in Moldova and a bit more than 48,000 of them are minors. In relative terms, Moldova is sheltering 4,124 refugees per every 100,000 of its population,<\/a> a proportion unmatched elsewhere in the region. Put differ\u00adently, the number of Ukrainian refugees in the Republic of Moldova currently amounts to 4% of the country\u2019s population. This is more than six times the country\u2019s estimated capacity. [Effective 15th March]<\/p>\n

Since the first day of the war, tremendous efforts have been made to mitigate the refugee crisis and cope with the largest human\u00adi\u00adtarian operation in the region, both on the part of the Moldovan author\u00adities and on the part of ordinary citizens. Ukrainian refugees have found shelter in refugee centres and in private accom\u00admo\u00adda\u00adtions or flats gener\u00adously provided at no cost by Moldovan citizens. The Moldovan author\u00adities list 166 refugee centres, 80 of which have been accredited by the National Agency of Social Assis\u00adtance (ANAS); businesses, NGOs, or other entities have opened the others. The Moldovan government is currently covering one-third of the costs for feeding and accom\u00admo\u00addating each refugee, amounting to about 1.1 million USD per day<\/a>. Though Moldova has demon\u00adstrated an unantic\u00adi\u00adpated capacity to mobilise both insti\u00adtu\u00adtionally and in society to respond to the human\u00adi\u00adtarian needs of Ukrainian citizens, it is quickly running out of options for providing comfortable shelters and care<\/a> for refugees. Foreign Minister Popescu recently described his country as being in urgent need of additional resources from foreign partners in terms of equipment, financial aid and help with the relocation of refugees<\/a> as Moldova is rapidly \u201capproaching the breaking point<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Victoria Rosa<\/strong> is an expert in inter\u00adna\u00adtional relations, European affairs, security & defence, conflict studies & gender issues, civil society devel\u00adopment, with a particular focus on EaP countries. <\/em><\/p>\n

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