1 THE “PRIDNESTROVSKAIA MOLDAVSKAIA RESPUBLIKA” (PMR) : BUILDING OF A EUROPEAN STATE AND EXPERIMENT OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY Report from Luc MICHEL Administrator-General and member of the Scientific Council of the "Eurasian Centre for Democracy and Elections" For the Mission of expertise and analysis conducted by European lawyers in PMR on 2-5 May 2007 under the direction of Mr Patrick BRUNOT State Doctor of Law, barrister at the Paris Court, advisor to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague www.eode.org __________________________________________________ EODE Report on the PMR – 2d issue 2010 Building of a New European State 2 CONTENTS PREFACE : A FEW WORDS OVER THIS REPORT * INTRODUCTION : TEAM OF EU LAWYERS IN “PRIDNESTROVIE” (PMR) TO EXAMINE STATEHOOD OF THE REPUBLIC * REPORT - PART 1 : THE “PRIDNESTROVSKAIA MOLDAVSKAIA RESPUBLIKA” (PMR) : BUILDING OF A EUROPEAN STATE I - "PRIDNESTROVIE" OR PMR: A HISTORICAL AND GEOPOLITICAL OUTLINE I-1: PMR AND MOLDOVA IN FRONT OF THEIR DIFFERENT HISTORIES AND PATHS I-2 : PMR DEFINITIVE REFUSAL : “NEVERMORE COMMON STATE WITH MOLDOVA” 1-3 : COUNTRY PROFILE OF PRIDNESTROVIE II - THE PRIDNESTROVSKAIA MOLDAVSKAIA RESPUBLIKA: A SOVEREIGN STATE II-1 : THE FACTS : PMR AS A REAL SELF-DERTERMINED STATE II-2 : PMR'S SOVEREIGNTY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW II-3 : THE ELEMENTS OF A STATE UPON THE INTERNATIONAL LAW II-4 : WHICH BASIS FOR THE CLAIMS OF MOLDOVA OVER PMR ? II-5: THE WEIGHT OF ECONOMY : TRADE RELATIONS EXPAND, INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS III - THE INFLUENCE OF THE KOSOVO CASE IV - PMR AND EUROPEAN IDENTITY * __________________________________________________ EODE Report on the PMR – 2d issue 2010 Building of a New European State 3 REPORT - PART 2 : THE “PRIDNESTROVSKAIA MOLDAVSKAIA RESPUBLIKA” (PMR) : EXPERIMENT OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY V - THE PMR: A TRANSNATIONAL STATE VI - THE PMR: A TRILINGUAL AND MULTICULTURAL STATE VI-1 : THREE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES IN PMR VI-2 : THE LAWS OVER USING LANGUAGES IN PMR VII – PMR AS MULTIETHNIC REPUBLIC VII-1 : PMR REALITY : 35 NATIONALITIES, 10 RELIGIONS VII-2 : RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND TOLERANCE IN PMR VII-3 : HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL PROTECTION OF MINORITIES VII-4 : EQUAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOM FOR SEXUAL MINORITIES VIII - PMR : A DEMOCRATIC STATE WITH STRONG POLITICAL AND CIVIL LIFE VIII-1 : PMR AS MULTI PARTIES DEMOCRATIC STATE VIII-2 : AN ACTIVE CIVIL SOCIETY VIII-3 : FOURTEEN ELECTIONS IN FIFTEEN YEARS IN PMR VIII-4 : PRESS FREEDOM IN PMR VIII-5 : PMR’S DEMOCRACY ASPIRES TO SWISS MODEL IX - THE PRIEDNESTROVIAN EXPERIENCE OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY IX-1 : THE DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN ACTION IN TIRASPOL IX-2 : THE REFERENDUM AS MAJOR TOOL OF THE DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN PMR IX-3 : THE ADHERENCE OF THE PEOPLE TO THE REPUBLIC * __________________________________________________ EODE Report on the PMR – 2d issue 2010 Building of a New European State 4 NOTES AND REFERENCES OF PART 1 AND 2 * CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE MOLDAVIA-TRANSDNESTRIA CONFLICT * ROATS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY * PART 3 : APPENDICES AND DOCUMENTS APPENDIX 1 : TRANSDNIESTER BETWEEN MYTHS AND REALITY (by Sergei Markedonov, published on RIA NOVOSTI, 01/Aug/2007) APPENDIX 2 : CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIDNESTROVSKAIA MOLDAVSKAIA RESPUBLIKA APPENDIX 3 : ANALYSIS FROM REVIEW "PRIDNESTROVIE" - “OUR ELECTIONS DEMOCRATIC AND TRANSPARENT” (by V. Grigoriev. Chairman of the Constitutional Court, 30.11.2005, № 226 (2752)) APPENDIX 4 : “ABOUT THE QUESTION OF CONTINUITY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIDNESTROVSKAIA MOLDAVSKAIA RESPUBLIKA REGARDING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE MOLDAVIAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC” (by L. Malskaia, LAW AND SOCIETY, No. 1 (5), 15.02.2004) APPENDIX 5 : “THE CONSTITUTION SHALL BE THE BASIS OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEGAL STATE SYSTEM” __________________________________________________ EODE Report on the PMR – 2d issue 2010 Building of a New European State 5 (Interview with the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublika V.A. Grigoriev - PRIDNESTROVIE # 255, 23.12.2004) APPENDIX 6 : “MOLDOVA IS A DISAPPEARING STATE”: INTERVIEW WITH TRANSDNESTR POLITICAL EXPERT ROMAN KONOPLYOV (for REGNUM agency) APPENDIX 7 : THE FOUR PILLARS OF PRIDNESTROVIE'S STATEHOOD PUBLISHED ON PRIDNESTROVIE.NET (http://pridnestrovie.net) APPENDIX 8 : BLACK PROPAGANDA: ANTI-INDEPENDENCE MISINFORMATION (published on PRIDNESTROVIE.NET) APPENDIX 9 : THE PMR CASE IN RELATION WITH THE KOSOVO FILE "MEDIA GETS IT WRONG ON DISPUTED TERRITORIES" (Published on TIRASPOL TIMES & WEEKLY REVIEW, By Michael Averko, 11 Feb 2007) APPENDIX 10 : IGOR SMIRNOV: "WE HAVE A STRONGER CASE FOR STATEHOOD THAN KOSOVO" (published on THE TIRASPOL TIMES, 06/Mar/2007) APPENDIX 11 : THE FOURTH WORLD: INVISIBLE COUNTRIES (By John Moynihan, published on THE TIRASPOL TIMES, 11 May 2007 APPENDIX 12 : KONSTANTIN ZATULIN: "THERE EXISTS A GROUP OF COUNTRIES READY TO RECOGNIZE PMR" (Interview for Gudok.ru, Translation by By Helen Pestruhina, Weekly Review, 01/Aug/2007) APPENDIX 13 : __________________________________________________ EODE Report on the PMR – 2d issue 2010 Building of a New European State 6 HISTORIOGRAPHY THE PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC: RECOGNIZED HISTORIOGRAPHY OF UNRECOGNIZED STATES (by Nikolai Babilunga, Head of the department of history at the Institute of history, state and law at PSU named after T.G. Shevchenko) APPENDIX 14 : MAPS : PRIDNESTROVIE AND MOLDOVA IN EUROPE AND HISTORY * PREFACE : A FEW WORDS OVER THIS REPORT The nucleus of this report is the printed version of a Lecture by Luc MICHEL - tittled “A NEW EXPERIENCE OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN EASTERN EUROPE: THE DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM OF THE PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC” - For the INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN THE 21 CENTURY held in Libya by the "Green Book Center " (Sehba, February 27 and 28 2007). This text is increased with numerous texts, quotations and analysis (analyses au pluriel) from the numerous consulted sources. It also takes into account two travels to PMR by the author : - The first one, as organizer of a Mission of international observers on the occasion of the referendum of September 2006, where he could meet many actors of the Transdniestrian political and social life. __________________________________________________ EODE Report on the PMR – 2d issue 2010 Building of a New European State 7 - The second one, in May 2007, within the framework of the expert’s Mission done in company of a European group of lawyers and jurists, where he could meet, interrogate and debate with the whole of the representatives of the institutions –Constitutional Court, Parliament, Parties, Ngos, Municipalities, Universities and Ministries – of the PMR. Travel, which was also the occasion to assemble a vast documentation, published in PMR and which completed the first analysis. Unlike most studies carried out on the PMR, which never quote any source from Tiraspol, Luc MICHEL exhaustively consulted and used the numerous sources available in several languages – of which French, German and English – and published by the searchers and universities of Pridnestrovie, as well by the government and the Constitutional Court of the Republic. He also consulted and used numerous Russian, Rumanian and Moldavian sources, wishing to give the word to all the actors of the Transdniestrian Question and the PMR-Moldavia conflict. Vladimir Grigoriev, the President of the Constitutional Court of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublika, was to emphasize the high standard of this impartial report, based on an exhaustive reading of the available sources: « We have looked through your report “The Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublika (PMR): Building of an European State and Experiment of Direct Democracy”. We are grateful for your deep and unbiased research of democracy in Transdnestria. You have studied a large amount of literature, published in Transdnestria. We are especially grateful for using the works of the Justices of the Constitutional Court in your report (...) Our Court is ready to cooperate with you on any matters ». Fabrice BEAUR, Scientific Council of EODE Ngo __________________________________________________ EODE Report on the PMR – 2d issue 2010 Building of a New European State 8 INTRODUCTION : TEAM OF EU LAWYERS IN “PRIDNESTROVIE” (PMR) TO EXAMINE STATEHOOD OF THE REPUBLIC A team of lawyers from the European Union visited Tiraspol, PMR's capital on 2-5 may 2007, to review its claim to statehood. “Examining the facts on the ground, legal experts from the EU now conclude that Pridnestrovie objectively meets the requirements for statehood. Based on international law, visiting lawyers were able to conclusively confirm the country's de facto independent status. International recognition is not a requirement for sovereignty”, comment the weekly TIRASPOL TIMES. “Although unrecognized by the international community, Pridnestrovie is nevertheless a sovereign state under international law. The small country, which is popularly but incorrectly known as “Transnistria” (in fact the artificial name given by Fascist Romania when it occupied – in alliance with Nazi Germany – this country and Odessa area between 1941 and 1944), meets the requirements for statehood with a permanent population, territory, government and the capacity to engage in foreign relations with other states, if they want to do so.” “That was the conclusion of an extensive examination by a team of jurists and lawyers, international legal experts from the European Union. After visiting Pridnestrovie and seeing the facts on the ground, in person, they are now urging the Foreign Ministries of