The major security crisis in the region can be an additional argument for the European Union to offer Ukraine the status of candidate country and later the Republic of Moldova and Georgia can also benefit from preferential treatment on the part of the European community, said political pundits, referring to the receiving of the Questionnaire of the European Commission by Chisinau. According to the experts, now the Republic of Moldova needs to persuade each EU member state that it deserves to be a candidate country as the decision to grant this status is taken by a unanimous vote, IPN reports.
Political pundits said the European Council takes a decision about the granting of the status of candidate country. Therefore, the Moldovan diplomatic service should make effort to persuade each EU member state that Moldova deserves to join the European community.
“The European integration process is very complex and necessitates a lot of skill as it is a technical process. When it goes to the accession of a state to the EU, 35 chapters need to be agreed and a lot of people who know the issues very well need be involved. After the document is filled out, the European Commission, which is the executive institution, will assess the responses given by the Republic of Moldova and will formulate an opinion depending on the results. It can recommend the European Council to grant the candidate country states or not to grant it. It is very important here to communicate with the member states as the decision–making process is consensual and requires unanimity,” expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” Veaceslav Berbeca stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
Some of the experts consider Russia’s military aggression can make the European community accelerate the European integration processes of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
“The external context is rather favorable for the Republic of Moldova given that the European Union already made optimistic promises about the speed at which it wants to help Ukraine to fill out the questionnaire so that this country gets a response by June. The same speed can be applied in the case of the Republic of Moldova and Georgia,” said political scientist Dionis Cenușă.
Representatives of the government admitted that the regime used with regard to the three countries that applied for EU membership is accelerated. Moldova received fewer questions than the standard questionnaire contains. This means the European Commission’s opinion on Moldova’s preparedness level will be formulated earlier than anticipated.
“We should now do our best for the European Union to receive correct, exhaustive information about the situation in the Republic of Moldova. This will open the way to the candidate status. The responses to the questions from the first questionnaire are only a first stage. But the procedures in the current regional context are slightly different from the ordinary ones and the questions are fewer in number. The document does not contain all the 2,500 planned questions. However, this exerts more pressure as greater importance is attached to the several hundred questions received. The answers must be very precise, based on accurate data and information for the EU’s perception of the current situation in the Republic of Moldova to be complete,” said PAS MP Adrian Băluțel.
President Maia Sandu, Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu and Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița signed Moldova’s application for EU membership on March 3 this year after Georgia and Brussels submitted similar applications to Brussels. On April 11, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia received the Questionnaire of the European Commission by which the two countries’ readiness to enter the EU will be assessed. Last week, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen handed over the document to Ukraine.
