The holding of the European Political Community Summit in Moldova is an important event, but it will not catapult us overnight into the European Union, said the former president of the Constitutional Court Alexandru Tănase.
“During the Independence period, both under the Communist rule and in times of the Alliance for European Integration, and up to now, the Republic of Moldova has been the pampered child of Europe. Significant agreements were signed at European level, which facilitated the export to the European Union, including after the imposition of the Russian ban, and the abolition of the visa requirements. The current government knew to use the political conjuncture, including the war in Ukraine, to sign the pre-accession agreement. I don’t think someone waits for powerful messages from this summit. Chisinau has transmitted powerful messages the last few years,” Alexandru Tănase stated in an interview entitled “European Political Community Summit in the Republic of Moldova: historic event, regional context and opened opportunities” that was conducted by IPN News Agency.
According to Tănase, the European Union rather expects the reform implementation pace, especially from technical viewpoint, as regards the harmonization of the legislation, to be accelerated. “The legislation should be harmonized swiftly if we want to no longer wait for 30 years. There are insufficient intellectual and professional resources in Moldova to cope with this avalanche. It won’t be easy. Political will taken separately does not yield any result without the technical part, which consists in everyday work. There are a series of very important projects, including the justice sector reform that is in a serious impasse. The process is intricate, but I think it would be much better if we transmit messages as to what we managed to do and to show particular dynamics this way. These dynamics should not necessarily be fast, but the process should be accompanied by calculated, well-thought-out and planned actions that together will help achieve particular results, and not momentary, but sustainable,” stated Alexandru Tănase. Asked if the war in Ukraine favored the holding of the summit in Moldova, Alexandru Tănase said that this is “a speculative issue”.
“We must realize the logic of this European Political Community and should not inflate things. It does not mean that tomorrow we will become an EU member. The idea of this European Political Community derives from the egocentric theory according to which a so-called Europe of three circles needs to exist: states with the strongest economies in the EU, then the EU member states that do not form part of the Eurozone, plus several states with an advanced level in the accession process, like the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc. The extension and modeling of this format are aimed at transmitting a powerful pre-accession message. The target is to amend particular treaties that were at the basis of the creation of the EU so that the EU states obtain particular rights when they advance in definite areas. Macron (President of France Emmanuel Macron) was the last who clearly shaped things in this direction and the move was accepted by all the EU leaders. For the Republic of Moldova, we can anticipate that this event will be an antechamber of the EU, which many states aim to reach and these will succeed only when they adjust the economy, the justice sector, the human rights to the European standards,” noted Alexandru Tănase.
However, the ex-president of the Constitutional Courit said that besides other things that should be taken into account, society’s perceptions of the coming close to the EU, NATO and society’s attitude to Russia should also be changed. A country cannot have a pro-European government, but a population that considers that Vladimir Putin is a leader.
The interview titled “European Political Community Summit in the Republic of Moldova: historic event, regional context and opened opportunities” was conducted by IPN News Agency in the framework of the project “Support for European Integration by stimulating discussion in the mass media about the organization of the European Political Community (ECP) Summit in Moldova” that is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.
