All the association agreements negotiated and signed until now with the European Union had been ratified. As to the accord with Moldova, the authorities and independent experts are optimistic that the document will be ratified very soon by the EU member states. Over 80% of the accord’s provisions take effect on a temporary basis, until the accord is ratified.

Expert of the Foreign Police Associations Lina Grau has told IPN that the ratification of the Association Agreements with Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine became a political priority of the EU. “The European Union hastened the process of technically preparing the necessary documents as much as possible and this wouldn’t have been possible if EU member states had opposed the rapprochement with these states. Moldova has very good chances for the accord to be ratified by the EU member states in the near future,” she stated.

Romania announced that it wants to be the first state that will ratify the Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU. Germany also sent powerful signals of encouragement for the other EU members to support the aspirations and European course of Moldova. The Bundestag is preparing a resolution in this respect, which is to be debated on July 3.

“Given the EU’s favorable attitude to Moldova, and these gestures of support come from Moldova’s friends in the EU, I’m sure that the Association Agreement will be ratified by the 28 EU member states. It is important that there is cohesion in Chisinau and that the European course be maintained after this autumn’s parliamentary elections,” said Lina Grau.

Political analyst Ion Tabarta said there are states in the EU that support Moldova considerably and these states will be the first to ratify the accord. These are Romania, the Baltic States, Poland, and even Germany. “I don’t think there will be problems concerning its ratification even by more reluctant states as they oppose mainly the grating of the status of accession candidate,” he stated. As to the obstacles places by Russia, the analyst said that any action by Moscow will be rather in Moldova’s favor.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iulian Groza has told IPN that the Association Agreement does not take effect if it is not ratified by all the EU member states. There is no deadline by which they must do it. Until now, other agreements with the EU were ratified even in a year or two. No accord remained unratified. The agreement between Moldova and the EU contains a clause providing that the accord will start to be applied temporarily this autumn. Most of the EU member states assured that they will ratify the accord as swiftly as possible. The Moldovan authorities expect it will happen within a year.

The Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU was signed on June 27.