BRUSSELS, May 15. /ITAR-TASS/. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said he favors a special status of Moldova’s breakaway republic of Transdniestria and the 5+2 talks on the region’s settlement.

The European Commission supports Moldova’s territorial integrity and independence, Barroso said after a meeting with Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca on Thursday.

The European Commission praises the 5+2 format, he said.

The Transdniestrian conflict started in March 1992 when the first clashes occurred between Moldovan police and Transdniestrian militia near the city of Dubossary, which were followed by an outbreak of armed hostilities. By summer, it had developed into large-scale fighting in Bendery, where about a thousand people were killed and tens of thousands were wounded and became refugees.

The fratricidal war was stopped after a peace agreement was signed in Moscow in July of the same year and Russian peacekeepers were brought into the conflict area.

The Transdniestrian settlement talks in 5+2 format were broken up at the end of February 2006. Chisinau and Tiraspol managed to resume the dialogue with Russia’s assistance two years later at the level of political representatives. They gathered every month to resolve pressing problems of the population of Moldova and the breakaway republic. In March 2009, the negotiations were resumed again after the trilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia, Moldova and Transdniestria. At their meetings in Moscow and Vilnius late last year and in Dublin this year, the parties agreed to resume the talks.

The agenda of the 5+2 talks consists of three sets of issues: socioeconomic problems, humanitarian issues and human rights, and comprehensive settlement, including institutional, political and security issues.

The previous round of the 5+2 talks was held in Brussels in October of 2013. The next round of the 5+2 talks on the Transdniestrian settlement process will take place in Vienna on February 27 and 28.