Dirk Schuebel: Štefan Füle's statament is a clear encouragement for Moldovans

It is for the first time that a high-ranking European official states that Moldova deserves the EU membership prospect, observed Dirk Schuebel, the head of the EU Delegation to Moldova, commenting on the recent statement made by Štefan Füle, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood. “This statement is a clear encouragement for Moldovan politicians and Moldovans as a whole to proceed with their reforms”, Dirk Schuebel told a news conference. Ambassador Schuebel noted that the Commissioner's statement doesn't mean that all the 27 member states will support it. “But we hope that with time an increasing number of states will be in favor of offering the membership prospect to Moldova”, said Dirk Schuebel. Earlier this week, speaking at the Second EU-Moldova Forum in Berlin, Štefan Füle said Moldova deserved the perspective to accede to the EU after showing “unprecedented consistency and speed of reforms”. Last week Romania presented at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxemburg a letter in support of Moldova's visa liberalization bid. The letter was endorsed by the foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The officials who undersigned the letter believe that the acknowledgment of Moldova's progress could be an incentive for it to continue reforms and will set an example for other Eastern Partnership members. Asked whether this letter could help Moldova, Dirk Schuebel noted that our country has in fact advanced to the second stage of negotiations on visa liberalization. “The Moldovan authorities have already started implementing the adopted legislation. This is in fact exactly what the second stage means. There are still some external procedures, but after these are overcome, the formal advancement to the second stage will be announced”.