The Socialists’ leader Igor Dodon provided explanations over his previous statements regarding the Customs Union and the European Union, which differ from the current platform of the party he heads. The statements were made in the program “Politics” on TV 7 channel, IPN reports.

As to the fact that he initialed a document concerning the possibility of signing a free trade agreement with the EU when he was minister of economy and trade in the Communist Government, which was recently revealed by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca in a televised program, Igor Dodon said he was only in favor of the asymmetric trade. “As a minister of the economy, I pleaded for exporting duty-free to the EU, but for keeping duties on the import,” he stated.

As regards his previous statement regarding the impossibility of Moldova joining the Customs Union, the politician said that it was then impossible because of the absence of common borders. Now the legislation of the Customs Union was modified and the provision concerning the mandatory existence of a common border was removed. So, Moldova can now join the Customs Union.

Igor Dodon reiterated the necessity of denouncing the Association Agreement with the EU and of holding a referendum on this accord. “Only by denouncing the Association Agreement, will we manage to return to the Russian market. I want our producers to have access to the market of the Customs Union. It’s not known how long Belarus will tolerate Moldova’s rapprochement with the EU,” he noted.

The chairman of the Party of Socialists expressed his conviction that most of the Moldovans are for joining the Customs Union. However, if most of the people vote for the integration into the EU at a referendum, he will comply with the people’s wish, even if he is against the European integration.