MOLDOVA: Poverty grips ex-Soviet Moldova, now bordering the Euroepan Union

Romania's entry to the European Union has brought the 27-nation bloc to the borders of ex-Soviet Moldova, where poverty is rife and a younger generation sees emigration as the only real option for a better future. Romania has joined the European Union amid great fanfare, bringing the 27-nation bloc to the borders of Moldova, most of whose territory was once part of Romania. The ex-Soviet state has its own aspirations to join the EU, but 15 years after independence, average monthly incomes in the country of 4 million stand at 100 US dollars, against 320 US dollars in Romania. Officials say up to 1 million Moldovans have left in search of work -- in Russia, where Moldovan workers renovating homes seem ubiquitous -- or Italy, Spain and Portugal. That outflow accounts for one in three able-bodied citizens. At least 500,000 are seeking Romanian -- and EU -- citizenship. Romanian EU entry has had negative effects -- on Moldovans now needing a visa to cross the border. A flood of applications and confusion over procedures led to crowds of travellers massing outside a Romanian consulate issuing only 200 visas per day -- with a million border crossings recorded in 2006 alone. Many were trying to get to Bucharest for the sole purpose of securing visas to countries with no embassy in Chisinau. "I have many friends in Romania, I have travelled to Romania for 15 years - I have lots of friends there but I cannot go to see them," said Maria Bocun, waiting in the visa queue outside the Romanian consulate. In Chisinau's bustling centre, a capital city of just under a million, young people are optimistic about the EU's proximity. "It's an advantage for me and Moldova. I believe life can change but only over a long period. There are so many problems to solve (here)," said Tatiana Dorfman, an interior design student. Moldova's Deputy Foreign Minister Valeriu Ostalep said that despite the problems there were grounds for optimism, citing discussions with the EU on a preferential trade regime. "We just became the neighbours. So you cannot say, just after a couple of months that things will move or change immediately. It's not a secret for no one that Moldova has aspirations and ambitions to join the European Union. We're not saying when exactly but we are hard working to achieve this goal. As I said before we'll be trying to use all the opportunities of the fact that we are the immediate neighbour of European Union," he said. EU officials say proximity can benefit a country which says it wants to leave the shadow of regional power Russia and join what is now a 27-nation group reluctant to expand further. "We observe that Romania issued over the last month various declarations in favour of Moldova; Moldova's accession to the EU, Moldova's further integration. So we consider that for Moldova it will be eventually beneficial to have a good ally among the member states, even if, I must say, now that Romania is a member state, it has to align with the common foreign security policy. And therefore it has to align with official European Union position towards Moldova. So what was possible before the first if January is not possible anymore. And there is an obvious consequences on borders," said Paolo Berizzi, a top EU diplomat in Moldova. Moldova's pro-Western policy has tipped the balance in favour of links with Bucharest. Romania, linked with the rest of Europe, is now heard as often as Russian in Chisinau streets. That policy -- and accusations that Moscow backs separatists in Transdniestria -- has also caused friction with the Kremlin which for a time banned exports of wine, the country's main export, and imposed big increases in the price of gas imports. Farmer Toader Nuca who lives just over the border in former Soviet Moldova only shrugs his shoulders in derision when he thinks about Romania and the European Union. Nuca and his wife Eugenia get monthly pensions totalling 600 Moldovan lei (about 50 US dollars) in what statistics show is Europe's poorest country. Their house in Leuseni, a village criss-crossed by muddy, rutted streets, has no running water. Nuca's income goes towards firewood to keep warm, gas canisters for cooking and feed for chickens, geese and sheep scuttling across a cluttered farmyard, plus a horse to draw a mud-spattered "caruta", his only form of transport. "I can't tell you anything about the European Union, but I doubt it will be any better. We haven't yet joined up with them but they keep saying that you will come to us and we will have your skin. How can we unite with them? If they keep saying they will have our skin, it is better to live separately, however poor we may be," Nuca, his coat smudged and torn, said, gesturing across fields to the border 3 km (two miles) away and offering guests a glass of home-made wine. "The Prut River over there divides us," added Nuca. Moldovans share a culture and language with their western neighbours and most of the country was once part of Romania. Separated by the Nazi-Soviet carve-up of eastern Europe, residents on either side of the Prut River had little contact until the border opened as communism crumbled in the late 1980s. But years of separate development undermined any notion of reunification. That was further complicated by a 1992 war which left newly independent Moldova split, with separatists creating their own state in the Russian-speaking Transdniestria region.

ITN Source | January 29, 2007

Tags:. .romanias. .km. .portugal. .exports. .anymore