EU foreign ministers call on Moldova to abolish visas for Romanians

The EU Council adopted the document empowering the European Commission to negotiate a new comprehensive agreement with Moldova, on June 15, which will go beyond the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. At the same time, Moldova is called to cancel the visas for Romanians. “In order to facilitate the start of the negotiations, the Council calls on the Republic of Moldova to ensure equal treatment to all EU citizens in its visa policy,” reads a release issued by the press office of the EU Council, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The EU Council is one of the three decision-making institutions of the European Union, next to the European Parliament and Commission, and is made of presidents or ministers of the member states. At the same time, the Council expresses serious concern over the human rights abuses that took place after the 5 April parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova. It calls for a transparent, impartial and effective investigation of the human rights violations as well as the events around 7 April, through a process that includes the opposition as well as international experts. The Council underlines that the use of violence for political aims is unacceptable. The Council is also concerned by the deterioration of freedom of expression and media freedom and urges the Republic of Moldova to ensure equal access of political parties to the public media, to ensure transparent allocation of media licences and to refrain from the use of administrative pressure against independent media, civil society organizations and political parties. The Council is closely following political developments in the Republic of Moldova and underlines the need for constructive political dialogue. It urges the Moldovan authorities to ensure that the forthcoming parliamentary elections are free and fair and calls on them to work closely with the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe to address their recommendations. The foreign ministers of the EU countries express their willingness to start negotiations as soon as circumstances allow.