“The living standards never and nowhere improve overnight. Most of the times, the improvements are the result of chain structural changes. The Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU is a driving force for continuing and deepening the institutional reforms so as to create favorable conditions for foreign investors,” Deputy Foreign Minister Iulian Groza said in an interview for the Government’s online journal “Infogov”, quoted by IPN.
According to the deputy minister, over the last few years Moldova benefited from essential financial assistance from the EU. All these grants were offered for Moldova to be ultimately able to ensure appropriate conditions for attracting investments. In a short term, the financial assistance helps Moldova to strengthen its institutions. In the medium and long terms, the investments go to modernize the production lines so as to export more and increase the number of workplaces.
Asked if the Association Agreement is irreversible, Iulian Groza said that hypothetically it is possible to review the accord. There is a clause saying that in three years, the sides can review the content of this document. The Association Agenda approved by the Moldova-EU Cooperation Council and the National Plan for Implementing the Association Agreement say that three years is a first stage.
“In three years, we will carry out an assessment and will decide whether to review the content or not. Or we can advance more and aspire to the status of candidate for accession to the EU. History showed what model can ensure the sustainable development, including of Moldova. The integration processes with the East remain attractive for several states only, but even Belarus and Kazakhstan often question the initiatives launched within this format of the Customs Union. I’m convinced that the people will know to make a correct choice. As to us, we will continue to correctly and objectively inform,” said the deputy minister.
He also said that the Association Agreement generated a number of myths because insufficient attention was paid to the communication with the people. “We thought that the people will understand independently the accord’s benefits. But it wasn’t so. Furthermore, the anti-European propaganda also had a say. These things make us mobilize and strengthen the messages and even knock at people’s doors and tell them the truth about the country’s European integration,” said Iulian Groza.
As to the fight against corruption, he noted that the changes made for fear are not efficient and durable. On the one hand, the system must be reformed. On the other hand, civil society should continuously exert pressure so that corruption is regarded also as a moral offense, not only as a criminal one.
