National Defence Committee on June 14th, 2018

[Leona Alleslev, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

MP Spengemann, you wanted a few minutes.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Chair, yes, if I could, just very briefly. Just to take a bit more of a deep dive into the history of Transnistria, why is this region special? Why is it the one region that continued to support the Soviet Union and its ideology? Is there a cultural-historical difference between Moldovans and Transnistrians that we should know about?

[Ala Beleavschi]

Yes. Before becoming part of the Russian empire, history shows that the biggest share of the population in that region were Moldovans and the second-biggest were Ukrainians. You know that Moldova belongs to the, let's say, Latin world. We speak a language that makes us part of the Romance group of languages. We have been part of la Francophonie since 1997. Yes, we are different from the Slavic world, yet the population has so peacefully coexisted on the territory of Moldova. We are a very multicultural society.

I believe that, in 1792, when the sixth Russian-Turkish war broke, there was an agreement that part of the territory—which, at that time, was called Bessarabia, and part of which today is Transnistria—was part of Ukraine. This explains why the second-largest ethnic group is Ukrainians. They peacefully coexist today, but there were always more, let's say, feelings that that part belonged to the Slavic world.

In 1924, this territory was proclaimed autonomous, as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, so they did have an autonomous status. It was not part of Ukraine any longer. It was largely autonomous within the Soviet Republic, so the feelings still persist that they are not supporting everything relating to our affinities with the Romanian culture.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

There's a foundation there.

[Ala Beleavschi]

Yes, they still persist and don't forget another thing. The Moldovans are the biggest ethnic minority in Transnistria, but the other two, the Ukrainians and Russians, together make up the Russian-speaking population and outnumber the Moldovans.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

That's very helpful. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Go ahead, MP Bezan.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I'll share my time with MP Yurdiga.

Ambassador, in your opening comments, you said that the Moldovan military is undertrained and underequipped. Does the Moldovan military do any training exercises with Romania or any other neighbouring states?

[Ala Beleavschi]

I told you that we are very interested in training and equipping our national army to make it a professional army in which soldiers would will only be recruited on a contractual basis. We are also very much interested in equipping to participate more efficiently in international peacekeeping operations. This is where Moldova and Romania agreed to co-operate just a couple of weeks ago at the level of parliamentary committees on defence. Romania agreed to provide advice on how to modernize our army, to share information, and to help train our peacekeeping battalions.

We agreed that we would join our forces, in these terms, and create mixed peacekeeping operations with Romania, with mixed battalions. Indeed, there are very good developments, in these terms. Moreover, at the level of ministers of national defence, there is also very good co-operation. I believe that the first visit of the Moldovan minister of defence, after he was invested in this office, was to Belgium—of course, to NATO headquarters in Brussels—and the second was to Bucharest.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Does your constitution, making you a neutral country, prohibit Moldova from buying weapons and armaments from other countries?

[Ala Beleavschi]

If it's only for the purpose of defence, yes. The status of neutrality provides for Moldova to, first of all, make sure that it is well prepared against any risk. It is not being used for any other purpose than defence. It does not contradict our neutral status for us to be involved in peacekeeping forces, because we believe that this is a way to train our army, first of all, and to contribute, because Moldova really believes it has to change its status of a “consumer of security” to “provider of security”. For this, we need to be well trained. That's the only thing that I can add to this.

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I just want to continue along the line of my earlier questioning. In reference to the propaganda laws, does this include limiting public opinion polling, which is an important democratic right?

[Ala Beleavschi]

I keep receiving results of all sorts of public opinion polls every day. I am confused sometimes which figures to believe or which are more accurate. There are very many, and they are absolutely not restricted. We have quite a few, by the way, non-governmental organizations that conduct opinion polls, even foreign, international non-governmental organizations, especially when it comes to showing how much of the population supports the Soviet party or the government, or how they feel about the state of things in Moldova. It helps very much to draft the right policies. It is not at all restricted.

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

MP Romanado.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to see you again, your Excellency.

I just want to get clarity. In terms of the number of armed forces that Moldova has, you mentioned 6,500 active military personnel, for a population of 4.5 million and being in a zone that is experiencing the same kind of aggression, I guess I'd call it, from Russia.

What are the initiatives to recruit armed forces personnel in Moldova? Is there a requirement for all adults to serve a certain number of years? What are you doing to recruit more armed services personnel?

[Ala Beleavschi]

The provision in the constitution about the neutrality of Moldova has been only just discussed. The then government or the president, especially, the former chair of the Communist Party of Moldova at that time, even made a move to reduce the numbers of the National Army, claiming that the neutrality of the country did not require having such a huge army which, of course, requires much financial support.

It has been reduced. Today we are recruiting; it's mandatory for all youngsters who reach the age of 18 to serve. Exceptions are granted or recruitment can be delayed if they have entered university, for example. It can be delayed for the time they are studying, but then they still have to go through some training. Today, we believe this is still not a very efficient tool. We have to make our army professional. People assume the responsibility, and if they decide to join the army, this should be on a contractual basis, and perhaps for one or two years. It's being discussed.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Since recruitment is mandatory, whether post-university studies or right after you turn 18, how long are they require to stay in the armed forces? Is it mandatory for two years?

[Ala Beleavschi]

It's for two years.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

You mentioned that, with a relatively young country of 27 years, two of the main focuses are the systematic modernization of Moldova and supporting entrepreneurship with a focus on training and education. In terms of modernization, what are the key priorities for Moldova? We heard that when it comes to conflict areas it's never one dimensional. It's never just a defence issue: it's political; it's governance; it's many things. What would you say would be a priority in systematic modernization?

[Ala Beleavschi]

The association agreement provides very specific chapters in all spheres of activities, and provides very concrete steps that have to be undertaken to reform the national economy, and to reform the justice sector, because that sector, unfortunately, needs urgent attention.

By the way, this is one of the reasons when I'm knocking at the door of the Canadian government, I keep saying that you have to be present with your huge democratic experience and try to share your expertise with our courts, because we need to ensure transparency of the courts. Sometimes you have a feeling that it's a state in a state. Unfortunately the judiciary has been quite corrupt, and that was the reason the government decided to take a very painful step and drastically increase their salaries, but keeping them accountable at the same time, to make sure there is no bribery in the judiciary any longer and that it is all transparent. The reform of the judiciary will be one of the priorities of the Moldovan government.

We have to make sure that we provide all the necessary conditions for entrepreneurs, especially small and medium enterprises, to have guarantees that the money they invest and the businesses they are opening are under the umbrella of the state. So we provide all of the necessary legal framework for them to work freely and have the support of the government.

Investing in education is the only way we can ensure that this country has a future. We're considered one of the best countries in terms of the quality of studies. We have a multilingual population. We speak several languages. Besides Moldovan, people very often speak Russian. They speak English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Living in this multilingual society, when these people finish school they have no competitive, well-paying jobs, and are looking abroad in search of better lives and better paying jobs. Investing in education and concurrently creating jobs for them to stay at home will perhaps be the third or fourth objective of my government.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

I have a sense that you're going to witness our democratic process in action here in a second, but I just want to make sure there are no more questions before we get into a couple of motions.

[Ala Beleavschi]

No, I see Mr. Bezan.