At the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit of November 28-29, Moldova initialed he Association Agreement with the EU. A new stage now starts for Moldova, and society and the politicians must join their efforts. Reforms must done, while the political class should not lose vigilance so as to overcome possible obstacles from inside and outside to the European integration process. Such opinions were stated by the participants in the debate “Moldovan society and the political class after Vilnius: between cooperation and confrontation”, staged by IPN News Agency.
The chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Vlad Filat said in the debate that a lot was said on the issue and is yet to be said so as to draw the last conclusions as regards the passed stage - the initialing of the Association Agreement. “It was a long awaited event for which a lot of work was done and it is the result of the involvement of whole society in the European integration process. It is about 1,000 workdays transformed into almost 1,000 pages of the agreement that will bring benefits to the people,” said the politician.
He also said that a responsible period is approaching, the next stage – the signing of the agreement. “The discussions we had at the European’s People’s Party Summit in Vilnius showed that the immediate period must be administered responsibly, not only as regards the translation of the texts into the 23 official languages of the EU, but also the implementation of reform. The deadline we agreed with the EU partners is end-September. The signing may take place sooner, depending on how we work,” said the leader of the Liberal-Democrats.
The political added that the initialing of the Association Agreement with the EU is a reason for joy, but the work must be continued so as to achieve the objectives. “Now, after the Summit, we need unity more than ever. I mean unity not around a party or a doctrine, but around the European integration process. We must contribute to the Europeanization of the country so as to enjoy better living conditions. I’m confident that the state will cope with the challenges coming from inside and outside,” said the chairman of the PLDM.
National Participation Council chairman Sergiu Ostaf said that the events that took place in Vilnius were expected by society. “This agreement is an instrument for making the government responsible. It is an important result that is appreciated by my colleagues. I think it is an instrument that can mobilize the government to be more efficient and to have one more chance in the next elections,” he stated, adding that only the current political configuration made the initialing of the agreement possible.
Director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT Igor Botan, who is the permanent expert of the IPN project, said the major goal of the Vilnius Summit wasn’t achieved as Ukraine didn’t sign the Association Agreement with the EU. “I hope that this will not happen in the case of Moldova. In a period of uncertainty, everything depends on the responsibility in the next period and how the political leaders behave. We will have to make effort and to be attentive to the possible obstacles. The political class should take a decision as regards the Transnistrian region. It would be better for this problem to be frozen,” stated Igor Botan.
He added that there are stages after the initialing that must be covered. “It is very important that the document be signed. Moldova must send messages not only to the Europeans, but also to society. The benefits must be explained to the people. The promise to liberalize the visa regime should be kept. The agreement must be also ratified. The road is clear and we must be attentive and prudent and able to act swiftly,” said the expert.
The public debate “Moldovan society and the political class after Vilnius: between cooperation and confrontation” is the 24th of the series “Development of political culture by public debates”. The IPN project is supported by the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
