Vladimir Voronin sees Moldova’s future as a European one, where our country is independent and sovereign, and this should not be taken to mean that Moldova is against one country or another. In an interview with IPN, the third President of Moldova and the veteran Communist leader argued that Moldova can follow two paths concomitantly: towards the EU and the Eurasian Union.

“We demonstrated that we can follow both ways, including to our European partners at the highest level. There were official visits and meetings with President Bush, with Angela Merkel and with other leaders, because they too have relations with these countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States. And Vladimir Putin also understood me, as I told him: you too have this special commission Russia-EU. Why can’t we be in the CIS together with you and with the EU at the same time?”, said Vladimir Voronin.

As concerns the Eurasian Union, the Communist leader said that then, as now the grouping remains rather nominal, so as President he decided and convinced his colleagues that Moldova should cooperate closely with the European Union.

“The traditional market for our exports was in Russia, but to rely solely on it was not practical. Russia has trade exchanges with the Turks, who supply it with vegetables, they have good wines too, and our wines somehow end up on the lowest shelves selling at the lowest price. Then blockades started happening, and as a result steps were taken to improve relations with the EU”, said Vladimir Voronin in an IPN interview to be published in full on Monday.