A visit by the French President to Chisinau is a powerful signal of support for our European aspirations, said Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu. According to him, the relations between Chisinau and Paris are now at the highest level since the declaring of the Republic of Moldova’s independence. On June 24, Moldova will receive an official response from the European Union to the application for EU membership submitted by the Moldovan authorities, IPN reports.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration said that the visit by the President of France Emmanuel Macron to Chisinau will be a message of support for Moldova in the context of the security crisis in the region and for the country’s European course. France, which holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, supports the reform agenda of Chisinau.
“It will be a very strong signal of support for the Republic of Moldova. In the relations with France, we are seeing a historical page. In 29 years, the Presidents of the Republic of Moldova and of France met only two times, in 1997 and 1998. Since President Maia Sandu took up her duties, this meeting of the Presidents in Chisinau will be the fourth. The details of President Macron’s visit are yet being discussed. They will be made public later,” Nicu Popescu stated in the talk show “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
The official said that the European Union, following the examination of the questionnaires filled out by Moldova, will formulate recommendations for democratizing and modernizing the country. There are serious shortcomings in the fight against corruption and in the justice sector reform, but they are hopeful that the EU will offer Moldova clear accession perspective.
“We are waiting for very positive signals from the European Union. On June 17, the European Commission will make public the recommendations and its view about how the relations with the Republic of Moldova should develop. The EU member states during several days will discuss these recommendations and on June 24 will formulate a recommendation of the whole European Union. We hope to obtain a clear perspective of entry into the European Union so that we could later open accession negotiations. We have to say it openly that the Republic of Moldova has yet to work before starting the accession negotiations. We are waiting to see the faults identified based on the responses from the questionnaire on which we should focus,” said Nicu Popescu.
The President of France Emmanuel Macron is expected to arrive in Romania this evening. Tomorrow, he will visit Mihail Kogălniceanu Military Base together with the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis and will later come to Moldova on a visit. Afterward, the French leader will visit Kyiv.
