The President of Latvia Eglis Levitis said that his country supports the European integration course of the Republic of Moldova. The whole international community should offer the Republic of Moldova the possibility of faster becoming a candidate country. The European integration of Latvia lasted for eight years, but the process depends on the speed at which Chisinau does reforms to shorten this period, IPN reports.
As to the assumptions that Russia can attack the Baltic States, the Latvian leader said his country is protected by NATO from this viewpoint and an attack by Russia against a NATO member state would mean a failure for Russia.
“We, in Latvia, feel protected by Article 5 of the NATO Treaty under which an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members of the Alliance. An attack on a NATO country represents a catastrophe for Russia and Russia knows this thing. Therefore, we feel safe in Latvia,” Eglis Levitis stated in the program “Diplomatic Dimension” on the public TV channel.
The official welcomed the Moldovan authorities’ decision to file an application for EU membership. He said the European integration process is thorny, but with multiple advantages. The Baltic countries, Poland and particularly Romania, support the possibility of shortening the European integration period for the Republic of Moldova.
“Latvia already covered the EU accession process. In that period, we did different reforms in different areas. In Latvia, this process lasted for six years, since 1998 until 2004. However, the situation in the Republic of Moldova is different. I think this possibility of joining the EU faster, which is to shorten the accession process, should be offered to Moldova. Eight Presidents of EU offer the status of candidate country to Ukraine. The procedure for examining the application to become a candidate country should be shorter for the Republic of Moldova too. Now the European Commission needs to prepare an opinion on Moldova’s readiness for accession,” said the President of Latvia.
Moldova’s application to join the European Union was signed by President Maia Sandu, Speaker Igor Grosu and Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița on March 3 following similar moves made by Ukraine and Georgia.
