The Association Agreement between Moldova and the European Union contains more European directives and regulations than the accords initialed with Georgia and Ukraine and even those signed with the Balkan countries that obtained the European integration promise, European expert Hrant Kostanyan, who is a teacher at the Ghent University in Brussels, said in a debate forum on Moldova’s integration into the EU held in Chisinau, IPN reports.

Hrant Kostanyan said the Association Agreement with the EU is currently the best tested system of reforms, while the agreement initialed with Moldova is the widest of all the EU’s accords with the associate states. “We made a comparative study of the three accords agreed by the EU with Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova and established that Moldova’s accord contains more European directives and regulations than the other two agreements. Thus, the assertion that Moldova was the best student in the class was confirmed as it assumed the largest number of commitments,” said the expert.
 
The Association Agreement with the EU, initialed by Moldova at the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit, contains 395 directives and regulations. According to the European expert, if all the directives and regulations are implemented, Moldova will have the integrated community acquis of the EU implemented in the national legislation. When comparing the Association and Free Trade Agreements between Moldova and the EU and the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the EU and Serbia, it was determined that the first contains more substance and is more profound than those with the Balkan states. 

Hrant Kostanyan underlined that no matter what commitments were included in the accord, the people must be informed about them. Many EaP member states didn’t make effort to make public the provisions and impact of the Association Agreement with the EU. “I’m glad that the EU Delegation to Moldova launched a campaign to inform the people as it is very important to explain to them the costs and benefits of the Association and Free Trade Agreements,” he stated.

The first annual Conference of the Moldovan European Integration Debate Forum was organized by the Foreign Policy Association and the German foundation Friedrich Ebert, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova.