The leaders of the government coalition made optimistic forecasts about Moldova’s prospects of joining the EU, but have dissenting opinions about the time when the event will happen, IPN reports.

In the program “Replica” on Prime TV channel, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vlad Filat said he considers that Moldova may join the EU in 2020. “It would be better if the event takes place in 2019, when Romania will hold the presidency of the EU Council, but Moldova will complete the development strategy in 2020. Then, our country will be ready to join the EU,” said the leader of the PLDM.

Ion Hadarca, who heads the Liberal Reformist Party, considers that the event may happen earlier. “Last autumn we spoke about the liberalization of the visa regime as about something hypothetical. But the visa regime was abolished in a rather short period of time. So, the entry into the EU is no longer a hypothetical version. It is something real and there are real preconditions for Moldova to become a fully-fledged member of the EU in 2019,” he stated.

Though he didn’t give a date, the leader of the Democratic Party Marian Lupu said that Moldova may join the EU in the near future. “Not the entry is in fact important. It is the implementation of European standards and the improvement of the living standards that count. That’s why we must do reforms to reach the standards of the European countries. Then Moldova will be ready for accession,” he said in the same program.

Earlier, Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said that Moldova can become an EU member in 2019, when Romania will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU