{The Eastern Partnership, an initiative aimed at improving the EU's relations with six former Soviet republics - Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia – will be officially launched in Prague on May 7. It aims to increase the financial support and strengthen cooperation between the EU and these countries, but does not envision the granting of the status of EU member. The partnership will offer free trade, lift travel restrictions and encourage cultural exchanges and assistance programs. The Eastern partners are expected to continue the political and economic reforms}. [- What are the benefits and disadvantages of Moldova’s participation in the Eastern Partnership?] - The people in Chisinau, especially the authorities, misapprehend the Eastern Partnership. This initiative forms part of the European neighborhood policy, of an evolutionist process designed to strengthen the eastern dimension of the European neighborhood policy and better adjust it to the necessities and expectations of the states of the region. The Eastern Partnership is extremely beneficial to us. It provides not only facilitated trade and economic integration possibilities, but also the possibility of political association by signing association agreements with the Eastern European countries. The initiative does not provide clear European integration prospects, but practically 90% of the content of the new association agreement will be similar to the content of the agreements signed earlier by the EU with the Central European and Western Balkan states. This can help us come closer to the moment when we could force the EU to provide us this prospect. The partnership envisions the negotiation and signing of a wider and comprehensive free trade agreement and the gradual liberalization of the visa regime by initiating a dialog that is expected to end with the granting of a roadmap that will contain the steps that must be taken to obtain this prospect. Another important prospect is the integration of our energy system into the EU system. This will strengthen Moldova’s energy security in the future. Moldova and the EU carry out talks on this issue and Moldova is expected to join the European energy community by this yearend. Another opportunity is the multilateral cooperation. Until present, the neighborhood policy was based only on bilateral partnerships – between the EU and a given state. The Eastern Partnership will create a multilateral component that will envision dialogue at different levels – at the level of heads of state once in two years, at the level of foreign ministers once a year, etc. It also includes regional projects that center on four areas: democracy and good governance, economic integration, energy security and facilitation of inter-human contacts. As to disadvantages, these are practically the same as in the European neighborhood policy. The most important one is the lack of clear conditionality. There is no clear connection between the objectives, conditions and sanctions. We can see this in Moldova’s case. A lot of objectives were set and different trade advantages were offered to us. One of the conditions was the observance of the human rights and democratic principles and the democratic functioning of the institutions. Until recently, Moldova had a positive image in the EU. But every time the reports by the European Commission and the civil society say that we lag behind in such areas as democracy, freedom of expression, independence of justice and mass media, combating of corruption and the business environment that is not so attractive to foreign investors. The encouragements that were coming from the EU in different forms did not produce the expected result. Different benefits were offered, but the situation remained in general unchanged. The Moldovan authorities spoke nicely about their European integration plans and promised many things to the European authorities, but pretended to be implementing the adopted laws and the reforms. Often, they did not fulfill their commitments. Concrete and attractive prospects are needed for a stronger conditionality, especially for the Moldovan citizens. Otherwise, the sanctions that the EU could impose against Moldova would have no effect. However, despite these shortcomings, the neighborhood policy and the Eastern Partnership are like anchors for Moldova on the path to European integration. We must make determined efforts. The EU offers us certain instruments to get ready, but is not yet ready to involve at the same level as in the case of other countries that already became members for a number of reasons, including internal. A drawback of the two projects is the fact that emphasis was laid on the authorities and the citizens of the countries covered by the projects remained rather unmotivated. [- Are we now ready to assume new responsibilities?] - It is obvious that we are not ready for a clear European integration prospect. During the last weeks, we saw that the state of democracy in our country leaves much to be desired. That’s why any of our requests to be offered clear European integration prospects looks hilarious. The authorities are not trusted in the EU and their arguments turn feeble. But this does not mean that we must leave this idea aside. It is not enough to demand and say that we are ready. We need to show by facts that we implement the reforms stipulated in the plan of action, not only speak about them. We must change the people’s perception of the state institutions, first of all of the police, which apparently do not represent us and do not defend our interests any more – and of the mass media that is thought to be loyal to the power, and the opinion about corruption. We must have political will to change these realties and leave aside the games of oscillating between the East and the West. A clear political decision about our development course is needed. [- Moldova’s outgoing president Vladimir Voronin admitted that the Moldovan authorities treated the Eastern Partnership with reserve. How would you comment on the position of the official Chisinau?] - Initially, the Moldovan officials had an ambiguous position. The authorities were dissatisfied with the fact that Moldova was put on the same side as Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia, which do not want to join the EU and do not implement democratic reforms. After the latest events, these arguments are beyond any criticism. The Europeans and the partners from Eastern Europe now believe that there is no great difference between Moldova and Belarus. We have a very bad image abroad and authorities’ earlier arguments now carry no weight. In an interview for a Russian newspaper in February, Voronin called the Eastern Partnership a kind of CIS 2, an attempt to isolate the Russian Federation. This fact created very negative impressions in Brussels. Probably, the Moldovan presidents’ statements were connected with the then electoral context, with the wish to secure Russia’s support. Even now, Moldova does not have a clear official position on the Eastern Partnership. Vladimir Voronin will not attend the launch. Moldova will be represented by Andrei Stratan, though it is not clear in what position as he is not Foreign Minister anymore, from May 4. In addition, Mr Stratan had and has reserves towards this partnership. I expect that from now on we will have surprises, statements critical of the initiative, different requests like the recent one when Vladimir Voronin said that he waits for a clear signal from the EU, assurances that the visa regime will be liberalized because the Moldovans are humiliated to travel to the EU through Romania. Such trenchant requests could discredit the EU in front of the Moldovan citizens through the agency of the main TV channels that are controlled by the power. It is not excluded that the way will be paved thus for a cardinal reorientation of Moldova’s foreign policy. Yet, the Moldovan authorities will not officially refuse to participate in the Eastern Partnership because they are aware that the people support the integration idea. Furthermore, economically we are closely tied to the EU. A lot of investments come from there. [- What will the European Union gain from this project?] - First of all, it will obtain political, economic and social stability in the region. They understand that the stability in the EU is closely connected with the stability in the countries that border it. The standardization of the area according to the EU principles means fewer contradictions. It is an innovation of the EU, a kind of expansion without integration prospects. At least, this results from the developments in Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. Lately, the EU has expressed a growing interest in geopolitical games, especially in courting the authoritarian leaders of the region – in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Some explain this by the EU’s necessity to ensure its energy security because these states have energy resources. Belarus is needed for transporting energy resources via its territory. Many experts describe the more merciful policy towards these regimes and the fact that the EU pretends not to observe the violations of the human rights as geopolitical game aimed at hindering Russia from strengthening its influence in this region. But this implies certain risks for the EU, which is regarded as a power that supports the democratic regimes. The difference between the foreign policy of the EU and of Russia can disappear and we will then become disappointed in Brussels. This thing is already noticed in Chisinau as the European officials said that the devastation of two buildings is inadmissible, but did not say this about the violation of human rights.