Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

that both the EU and NATO enlargement, Western investments and infrastructure projects
would happen only in stable and ‘clean from crime’ areas; and second – to exert
continuous pressures on the national governments where these conflicts occurred.
Thus, Moscow has certainly preserved a ‘zero-sum’ game approach, based on the
assumption that its own security could be built on other’s insecurity.
Lack of progress in the resolution of these territorial conflicts foments instability and
conflict-prone situations. Moldova encouraged the intensification of cooperation with
all parts of the international community interested in sustaining regional cooperation to
ensure stability and security. It advocated for the ratification of Additional Protocol on
Terrorism Prevention, as well as the intergovernmental agreement signed by the BSEC
for cooperation in the field of crime prevention in its organised form. We expect that
conflict-management should become a euro-atlantic priority across the region and, in
this regard, the US, NATO and the EU can initiate a long-overdue transformation of
conflict-management in the Black Sea-South Caucasus region.
Moldova’s strategic aim – EU integration
Moldova is moving towards the West, both institutionally and politically and considers
EU integration as a strategic priority for its foreign and domestic policy, while NATO is
its second priority. Moldova signed its Action Plan with the EU in February 2005, becoming
the first country to endorse a new-generation political document with the EU, and
concluded an Individual Action Plan (IPAP) with NATO in 2006. Soon after Moldova,
Ukraine followed by endorsing its own Action Plan while Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
agreed ENP Action Plans in November 2006. In March 2007, the European Commission
issued Country Strategy Papers 2007-2013 and National Indicative Programmes for
2007-2010 for all ENP countries. 20
Bordering the EU, Moldova is certainly privileged by the increased attention from the
Union towards its neighbours and partners. Two of the coastal states, Romania and
Bulgaria have just crossed on 1 January 2007, a kind of ‘Rubicon’ by assuming fullfledged
institutional membership in both the EU and the NATO. With Greece as a longstanding
member of the EU, and Turkey (a veteran of NATO) knocking timidly at the EU
doors, and with Ukraine, Moldova and the whole bulk of states in the South Caucasian
20 On 12 May 2004, the European Commission paved the way for its relations with several countries of the region
by adopting a new strategy paper called the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). The ENP offers the European
Union’s new neighbours a privileged relationship with the bloc and its objective is “to share the benefits of the
EU’s 2004 enlargement with neighbouring countries…” In 2007, a new EU regional dimension of the ENP was
launched by the German Presidency of the European Union. The aim of this policy was to extend the benefits
of the ENP to the countries which were mostly affected by transitional difficulties, without duplicating existing
institutions in the region.
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