Foreign Minister: Moldova’s de facto EU integration is more important than the formal one

Moldova’s de facto integration into the EU is much more important for the citizens than the political accession, thus the co-operation with the EU should be built, first and foremost, on tangible achievements which can be felt by the populace, Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan stated Tuesday, October 16, at a press conference. According to the minister, Moldova considers that almost all the concrete provisions of the Moldova-EU Action Plan have been fulfilled and therefore solicits another co-operation agreement. The official asserts that the Action Plan will be entirely fulfilled by the end of the year, but its results will be to a great extent general and hardly assessable, for instance, in such areas as combating corruption, freedom of media and the independence of the judiciary. In three years it will be almost impossible to attain a perfect judicial system without profiting from a pattern recommended by the European Union, the minister believes. The head of the Moldovan diplomacy further stated that the Moldova-EU relationship has known a remarkable development, with the accent placed on the launch of negotiations concerning a new co-operation framework next year, which will upgrade the present relations. Taking into account the situation inside the European Union, due to the latest enlargement wave, and the need for an internal reform, as well as the fact that most of the member-countries oppose the idea of a new EU enlargement in the foreseeable future, Moldova decided not to place too much importance on the title of the future agreement, but to focus on its essence, the minister said, adding that it must be founded on the four liberties – freedom of circulation of people, of capital, of services and goods – directions in which Moldova has taken strong steps. At the same time, Stratan stated that the talks on the new co-operation framework could take some time, and meanwhile the situation inside the EU could chance so that by the end of the negotiations Moldova could be given a clear European prospect and an exact accession date.