The EU candidate status offers the Republic of Moldova the chance to be on the side of a democratic and prosperous world, said Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu. According to him, the new status of the Republic of Moldova will ensure access to additional European funds that will be invested in the democratization and modernization of the country. The conditions imposed by the EU are also the Moldovan government’s priorities, while the pace of reforms is to be stepped up, IPN reports.
The EU candidate status granted to the Republic of Moldova entails the implementation of important reforms, such as the fight against corruption, reformation of the justice sector, de-oligarchization, fight against organized crime and ensuring of greater involvement of civil society in the decision-making process. The Speaker said a part of the reforms were already launched.
“We have all the necessary ingredients. We have a parliamentary majority, a President, a Prime Minister with pro-European views. There is proper cooperation between the three institutions. We have the experience and expertise of Romania. We must continue the justice sector reform, pre-vetting, the assessment of judges and prosecutors. NIA should work and prove that it conducts a correct evaluation of the properties of functionaries. The pace of these reforms depends on us. The public administration reform is another condition of the European Union. This is a priority for us too as we aim to bring the services closer to the citizens,” Igor Grosu stated in the Special Edition on the public TV channel Moldova 1.
The Speaker admitted that society and the political class in Moldova are divided according to the geopolitical criterion, but said that the European integration can become a widely supported national idea.
“Before the war, I wondered if we can achieve national consensus on a subject. We thought the fight against corruption can be a common issue on which the opposition and the government would reach a consensus. We haven’t managed to do this yet. Now, amid the war in Ukraine, the people are clearly divided. There is the model of the invasion, the war, the nonobservance of human rights and there is the European Union’s model of peace and of respect for the opinion. The latter is the model we want to implement. We now have an extraordinary chance to be on the good side of the world. This is our chance. The Republic of Moldova has never had so many friends. Romania, France, Germany support us,” said Igor Grosu.
Two days ago, the European Council granted the candidate status to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine and recognized Georgia’s European perspective.
