Immediat visit to Chisinau by EU troika

Today, however,the democratic transition of Moldova is threatened by the steps taken by President Vladimir Voronin in response to largely peaceful protests following the parliamentary elections of 5 April 2009. Constitutional rights are now being infringed, including the indiscriminate arrests and beatings of protesters, and a ban on private media, resulting in a
political crisis with serious implications for the country’s
democratic development. President Voronin has also accused Romania, a
European Union member state, of supporting the protesters and
undermining the sovereignty of Moldova.

Rt. Hon.
Karel Schwarzenberg
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic
Loretánské nám. 5
118 00 Praha 1

10 April 2009
Dear Minister,

On 7 May 2009, the Eastern Partnership summit is scheduled to take
place in Prague, the launch of a major EU initiative to strengthen the
democratic development of the EU’s eastern neighbours. Today, however,
the democratic transition of Moldova is threatened by the steps taken
by President Vladimir Voronin in response to largely peaceful protests
following the parliamentary elections of 5 April 2009. Constitutional
rights are now being infringed, including the indiscriminate arrests
and beatings of protesters, and a ban on private media, resulting in a
political crisis with serious implications for the country’s
democratic development. President Voronin has also accused Romania, a
European Union member state, of supporting the protesters and
undermining the sovereignty of Moldova.
I am writing to you on behalf of the members of PASOS (Policy
Association for an Open Society), a network of 37 independent policy
centres in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia working to
promote democracy, human rights, and an open society, and other
partners from EU member states, including the Czech Republic, and from
neighbouring countries, in particular Moldova, to call upon the Czech
Presidency of the European to act swiftly to mediate in the political
and civil crisis in Moldova, not least to ensure that the Eastern
Partnership initiative is not jeopardised before its inception.
The signatories of the attached statement (this letter is also
attached) believe that it is imperative that EU diplomats mediate the
emerging political crisis in Moldova, requesting immediate liberation
of arrested protest ors, and further restraint of the authorities from
exploiting the effects of the violent riots in political interests,
We, the undersigned, propose an immediate visit to Chisinau by the EU
Troika, with a view to:

* the creation of a special round-table with participation of all
political parties of this country, to restore trust and dialogue
between the main political actors, to enshrine democratic standards of
behaviour, including free access of political parties and civil
society leaders to mass media, thus creating necessary preconditions
to decide upon future organisation of free and fair elections in
Moldova.
* the establishment of a special international group, mandated by the
EU, with special envoys from the European Presidency to investigate
the causes, actors and the escalation of riots, which have degenerated
into violent actions, assisting independent judicial trial s for those
who committed these actions.
In addition, we would call upon EU diplomats to work to prevent the
transformation of Moldova into an ‘official’ dictatorship, by
assisting in the de-escalation of conflicts, by reducing the
hate-speech, curbing police violence and the arrests of citizens in
daylight by unidentified individuals. The EU can play an important
role by mediation to end censorship in state media, for the liberation
of political prisoners (200 arrested on the night of 7 April 2009, and
by working to ensure the resolution of the conflicts via judicial, and
not extra-judicial, means.
Jeff Lovitt
Executive Director, PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society)

and the undersigned:

Tevan Poghosyan, Executive Director, ICHD, Armenia
Gubad Ibadoglu Bayramov, Chair, Economic Research Center (ERC), Azerbaijan
Maria Prohaska, Executive Director, Cent er for Economic Development (CED), Bulgaria
Lubov Panayotova, Programme Director, European Institute Foundation, Bulgaria
Dr. Ognyan Minchev, Executive Director, IRIS, Bulgaria
Marin Lessenski, IRIS, Bulgaria
Stefan Ralchev, IRIS, Bulgaria
Alexander Marinov, IRIS, Bulgaria
Alice Savovová, Executive Director, Association for International Affairs (AMO), Czech Republic
Michal Thim, Research Center Director, AMO, Czech Republic
Kateřina Špácová, Director, Civic Belarus, Czech Republic
David Král, Director, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic
Radomír Špok, Executive Director, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic
Vladimír Bartovic, Research Fellow, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic
Jeff Lovitt, Executive Director, PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society)
Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD), Georgia
George Tarkhan-Mouravi, co-Director, Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Georgia
Fatmir Curri, Program Co-ordinator, Kosovar Civil Society Foundation
Ahmat Madeyuev, Executive Director, Center for Public Policy, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (CPP)
Dace Akule, Research Fellow, Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS, Latvia
Zhidas Daskalovski, President, Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Macedonia
Dr Igor Munteanu, Director, IDIS Viitorul, Moldova
Arcadie Barbarosie, Director, Institute for Public Policy (IPP), Moldova
Valeriu Prohnitski, Executive Director, Expert-Grup, Moldova
Jacek Kucharczk, Research Director, Institute of Public Afairs, Poland
Grigorij Meseznikov, President, Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), Slovak Republic
Olga Shumylo, Executive Director, International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS), Ukraine

Jeff Lovitt
Executive Director
PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society)
Tesnov 3, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic
Tel/fax: +420 2223 13644
Mobile: +420 7315 17224
Skype: jeff.lovitt