Тhe Limited Political Range of the Еuropean Union’s Engagement in Pridnestrovie

Abstract

After the civil war in Moldova in 1992, when separatist forces with the help of Russia ended the conflict and established control over the left bank of the Dniester, the self-proclaimed “Pridnestrovie” developed into a territory that possessed various elements of statehood without international recognition. By improving relations between the EU and Moldova through the European Neighbourhood Policy, the joint action plan “EUMAP” was adopted, in which the EU emphasised the resolution of the conflict in Pridnestrovie as one of its priorities. Accordingly, the research question of this article is: “What are the results of the political and normative approach of the EU towards Pridnestrovie?”. After the introduction and conceptualization of the topic according to the framework of the "Normative Power Europe" concept, the scope and effectiveness of the normative action of the EU towards Pridnestrovie are analysed in compliance with the proposed mechanisms of norm diffusion. At the end of the paper, the author concludes that the European Union faces limitations in terms of using its complete political potential in Pridnestrovie, as a result of which it tries to fully integrate the separatist region into its own sphere of economic influence as a defence mechanism against the potential spillover of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Keywords

• european union
• normative power
• frozen conflict
• pridnestrovie
• international politics