The Republic of Moldova ‘applies for EU membership in 2011’
Prime Minister Vlad Filat confirmed the fact that the Republic of Moldova intends to submit an application for EU membership next year.
Articol de Lina Grâu, Chişinău, 12 Noiembrie 2010, 10:43
The Republic of Moldova plans to submit an application for EU membership in 2011.
Both Foreign Minister Iurie Leancă and Prime Minister Vlad Filat confirmed this piece of news.
Moldavian Foreign Minister Iurie Leancă declared that this would only happen if the anticipated parliamentary elections due on November 28th were won by the parties forming the Alliance for European Integration and not the communists.
Prime Minister Filat stressed the fact that this application has to be preceded by an adjustment of all activity in the Republic of Moldova to EU norms: ‘This is our goal for the next year: to meet certain standards and achieve some progress in the process of adjusting all affairs of the Republic of Moldova to European values, so as to succeed in submitting this membership application.’
And we will definitely accomplish it: both in terms of meeting the requirements and in terms of submitting the application’, Vlad Filat said.
Visa Regime Liberalization
European integration is a key priority of foreign policy for the Republic of Moldova; so it is considered by the four parties which form the current government coalition in Chişinău, and considerable progress has been made in this direction this year.
However, the Communist Party advocate affiliation to Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
During a talk show broadcast by a private TV station, Foreign Minister Iurie Leancă, who has been suspended from the Cabinet pending the election campaign, also stated that the citizens of the Republic of Moldova will be able to travel to the EU without a visa starting from 2012.
The Prime Minister asserted that the Republic of Moldova had already complied with at least 60-70% of the prerequisites for the visa regime liberalization, before having received the road map for a visa-free travel regime from the European Union.
On October 25th, the General Affairs and External Relations Council invited the European Commission to design an Action Plan for visa regime liberalization for Moldavian citizens.
Translated by: Ruxandra Câmpeanu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University
