Berlin Plus package

For other uses, seeBerlin Plus.

The so-calledBerlin Plus package(Romanian:Pachetul Berlin Plus;Russian:Пакет Берлин Плюс,romanized:Paket Berlin Plyus) is the name given to a series of eight points that were agreed to be implemented in aprotocolsigned in 2016 during a meeting of the5+2 formatthat took place on that year inBerlin,Germany,to improve the situation of theTransnistria conflictbetweenMoldovaand the unrecognized breakaway state ofTransnistria.These eight points, which had been under negotiation since 2012,are the following:

• The reopening of the bridge connecting the villages ofGura Bîcului(under Moldovan control) andBîcioc(under Transnistrian control).
• The apostilization (i.e. the legalization and validation) ofdiplomasgiven by Transnistrian universities.
• To ensure the functioning of theRomanian-language schools in Transnistriausing theLatin alphabet.
• To allow the entrance of Moldovan farmers to their own farmlands in territory under Transnistrian control.
• To permit the participation of vehicles withTransnistrian registration platesin international traffic.
• Ecologyissues concerning theDniester River.
• The reintegration between Moldovan and Transnistriantelecommunicationnetworks(such asGSM) andlandlines.
• To implementlaw enforcementon criminal cases from both sides, including those against officers, as well as to exchange lists of existing criminal cases; and to allow freedom of movement of people, goods and services between both sides.

The protocol was viewed favorably by international mediators such asRussiaand the then governingDemocratic Party of MoldovaandPresident of MoldovaIgor Dodon.However, the mostlyright-wingpro-Europeanopposition parties,including those that supported theunification of Moldova and Romania,had a more skeptical approach, viewing the protocol as insignificant and even as a "surrender" by the Moldovan negotiators.

In 2017, theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE) claimed that progress on two points of the package had been made. Wolf Dietrich Heim, the then representative of the OSCE on the Moldovan–Transnistrian talks, said that diplomas from Transnistrian universities had been successfully certified and that telecommunication between Moldova and Transnistria had been facilitated.On the same year, the bridge at Gura Bîcului was reopened during an event attended by the thenPrime Minister of MoldovaPavel Filipand the thenPresident of TransnistriaVadim Krasnoselsky,as well as several international observers.

In 2018, significant advances were observed,with the Moldovan authorities announcing that six of the eight points had been implemented as of that year. However, the remaining points were put aside by Moldovan politicians due to the start of the electoral campaign of the2019 Moldovan parliamentary election.Furthermore, a new meeting of the 5+2 format inBratislava,Slovakia,brought no new concrete changes regarding the Berlin Plus package, with 2019 thus being a year with no major developments.2020 was more of the same, this being due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Despite all of this, the Transnistrian authorities have been accused with sabotaging the implemented points of the Berlin Plus package, in particular the situation of the Romanian-language schools of the country and the entry of Moldovan farmers to their lands under Transnistrian rule, with even allegedly using the COVID-19 pandemic to achieve this more efficiently.In fact, in August 2021, the Transnistrian government refused to register the Romanian-language school the Lucian Blaga High School atTiraspoland forced it to cease its activities for three months, affecting the school year of the students of the school and allegedly constituting a violation of several articles of theConvention on the Rights of the Childas some have said.

See also

• Moldova–Transnistria relations