Over 80% of the European Parliament supports the Republic of Moldova, MEP Siegfried Mureșan stated after the European legislative body on Thursday adopted a resolution by which it requests to open the EU-Republic of Moldova accession negotiations by the end of this year. According to the European official, there are chances that the accession negotiations will be opened in December as the European Commission’s first assessments are positive. Also, by the resolution adopted yesterday, the European Parliament asked the European institutions to offer increased financial and technical support to the Republic of Moldova, IPN reports.
Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan said the Europeans Council’s December decision concerning the opening of accession negotiations can be favorable for Republic of Moldova. The first assessments show that the official Chisinau made progress in implementing the nine conditions.
“The group of the European People’s Party, on my initiative, asked to add to the agenda this resolution by which we transmit a very clear signal - that we want to pass to the next stage. The Republic of Moldova is an accession candidate and we must move to the next stage, which is to open the accession negotiations for all the citizens to see that the European course is irreversible. There were over 400 votes “for”. So, more than 80% of the European Parliament supports the Republic of Moldova. There are chances that the decision towards the end of this year will be positive, exactly as the European parliament requests by its decision. If the progress on the nine reforms until the end of the year is sufficient, the accession negotiations will start. The first assessments of the European Commission are positive. I hope that in December all the states will decide to open the negotiations,” Siegfried Mureșan stated in an interview for Radio Moldova.
BY the European Parliament’s resolution, the MEPs also asked to increase the financial and technical support for the Republic of Moldova and the number of persons who deal with the Republic of Moldova at European institutions, and to also permanently liberalize trade between Moldova and the EU.
“We want even before the effective accession to integrate the Republic of Moldova into as many economic programs as possible so that the people benefit from these. For example, we can integrate the Republic of Moldova into the EU single market and this will mean elimination of all the barriers to trade. The export of products from the Republic of Moldova would take place faster, simpler, without bureaucracy and without quotas. Investors from the European Union could invest simpler and quicker in the Republic of Moldova, would create jobs and contribute to economic development. The roaming agreement takes effect on January 1 and the citizens of the Republic of Moldova will be able to phone in the European Union at low charges,” said Siegfried Mureșan.
The European Parliament’s resolution on the Republic of Moldova was adopted by a large majority - 448 votes ’for”, 45 – “against” and 43 abstentions.
