Lack of centralized policy hampers Moldova’s European integration

The process of Moldova’s integration in the European Union stagnates because there is no centralized policy in this regard. The idea was debated by Moldovan experts and officials, and their Lithuanian counterparts at a round table on Friday, June 29, Info-Prim Neo reports. Leonidas Donskis, member of the European Parliament, said that Lithuania had directed its social and political efforts towards integration to the EU ever since it achieved independence. Besides, Lithuanian political parties, despite different doctrines, all included European integration in their program. “You can trust us, you can count on us because we will support any decision you take”, declared Leonidas Donskis. “Lithuania can prove it’s a true friend and partner of Moldova. This is a common project, on which depends not only the future of the two countries, but the future of the whole European region”, said Evaldas Ingnatavicius, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Political analyst Arcadie Barbarosie blamed Moldova’s lack of progress towards European integration on the continuous political balancing between East and West since 1990. “Even now, when the leaders of the governing alliance proclaim European integration as their strategic goal, there are huge differences between their declarations regarding policies that need be implemented, about what needs to be to done for European integration, between what they think and what they actually do in this regard. That’s why we are still stagnating”, Arcadie Barbarosie told Info-Prim Neo. Vitalie Sprinceana, Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the State University, said that the European Union was the only platform that allowed humans to feel the way they feel inside: a Romanian feels Romanian, a Russian feels Russian and a Christian feels Christian. The round table is one of the actions organized over the last two months by the Lithuanian diplomatic mission in Moldova marking 20 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.