European Movement: “Eastern Partnership is no victory on European integration path”

“The Eastern Partnership is not the victory talked about the Communist rulers in the sense of European integration. We cannot expect miracles of an association agreement with the EU,” Oleg Serebrian, the president of the European Movement from Moldova (EMM), said. Monday at a news conference hosted by Info-Prim Neo news agency, Oleg Serebrian has said: “This Partnership does not radically change the situation in Moldova and in other countries in the region in relation to the European Union. It's a slight differentiation Brussels accepted to make between the East-European countries and the partners in the Mediterranean Sea.” On December 3, the EU launched the so-called Eastern Partnership entailing a special regime of relations with Ukraine, Moldova, the three Caucasian countries, and Belarus, if Minsk wants. Related to the number of population, the EU grants Moldova, till 2010, the most money – 210 million euros, compared to Ukraine – 494 million. “In giving Moldova very much money we should see the bad side, unfortunately. Moldova is the most vulnerable among these countries, socially speaking, first. We are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. A quarter of the population, more than a half of the active population, left for abroad. So, it is done also to prevent clandestibeand semi-clandestine migration,” the EMM president answered when asked to comment why the EU grants large amounts to Moldova. Serebrian believes the EU will not renounce the entrance visa regime for citizens in therse countries, but can issue them for free. Countries with historical ties to Russia are members of the Eastern Partnership and that country does not state it dislikes the idea. “The partnership is not very concrete in terms of the integration perspectives for these countries into the EU. Russia always displays its concern about military issues. Russia attaches not importance to this project,” Oleg Serebrian said. Asked whether the Moldovan Government will be able to use the money donated by the EU, Oleg Serebrian has said “the Moldovan Government successfully uses any money. It's an omnivorous Government. The problem with the money having come to Moldova since 1991 is where it goes, because it goes into sand.” In 2009, when it is 70 years since the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, through which Fascist Germany and the Soviet Union decided to occupy territories in Eastern Europe, the EMM will carry out a research about the crimes the Communism committed from 1940 to 1954, including on the present territory of Moldova. The conference has been attended by Virgil Margineanu, an EMM deputy president and parliamentarian Igor Klipii, a member of the EMM's bureau. The European Movement in Moldova was set up in 1999 and joins over 40 NGOs.