“Moldova’s place is in the European Union”. This is the message transmitted by people of culture, athletes, writers, entrepreneurs and mayors who took part in the European Moldova Assembly staged in the Great National Assembly Square, IPN reports.
“The question should no longer be if, but when we will become Europeans. My answer is: today!” writer Tatiana Țîbuleac stated from the stage. She noted that her generation, of children grown under communism, discovered Europe from foreign language textbooks. The foreign languages for her generation were colored windows to a world they were sure they would never reach, but looked to it with admiration. Europe of which the parents dreamed can be reached now. Even if Moldova is not yet in the EU, its people are there already. Hundreds of thousands of Moldovans who settled abroad and those who remained in Moldova chose to adhere to the European values. Europe is not a border. It is a lifestyle that is learned.
National Army colonel Adrian Efros, head of the Center for the management of the crises caused by the war in Ukraine, said that peace is priceless and it is everyone’s duty to ensure a security environment for children at home. Last year, the war that broke out in Ukraine shocked everyone. As the head of the crisis management center, he helped Ukrainian refugees to obtain a safe place in Moldova. In that period, the people showed that the Moldovans can be united and can help those who fled from the war. He came to the assembly together with his family as he sees the children’s future in a country abiding by the European values.
Anastasia Nikita, Moldova’s freestyle wrestling champion, said that it is not easy to achieve results in Moldova and the athletes know this best. But they, regardless of the faced difficulties, bring medals to Moldova. “Moldova’s membership in the EU will facilitate the development of sports as nothing compares to the European conditions,” stated Anastasia Nikita.
Mayor of Selemet, Cimișlia, Tatiana Badan, president of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova, said that the EU means public services of a high quality, roads, water, fair justice for children, education and the chance for the siblings and children to return to work at home for the country. “The public administration model in the EU is the only one that is worth being followed and that enables us, the mayors, to be closer to the needs of the citizens and to develop the villages and towns of Moldova,” she said, noting hundreds of modernized schools and kindergartens and other large projects that were implemented with the EU’s support.
Vasile Tofan, who owns a wine business and who returned from the diaspora, said that he left Moldova 22 years ago in search of a better life, as over 1 million other Moldovans did. He saw how Moldova during over 30 years has been fading away, how the people had been lied toby thieves and opportunists who tried to sell the idea of an attractive market with the CIS at a time when the European market is 12 times bigger than Russia’s. As an entrepreneur, he experienced impediments in the export to the Russian market, including the bans. Currently, over 90% of the wine exports go to the EU.
Singer Cristofor Aldea-Teodorovici said that he wants a better live up to the European standards, similar to that in the European community. Even if it is a complex, bureaucratic body with many shortcomings, he considers there are 1,001 more advantages in being part of the EU. The European path will bring investments in roads, businesses, higher salaries, a community without borders and also Romania closer, without customs posts over the Prut. “Why shouldn’t we choose a better future without hostilities, wars and with the right to opinion. Everything is in our hands,” stated Cristofor Aldea-Teodorovich.
According to the chief of the General Police Inspectorate Viorel Cernăuțeanu, the Assembly was attended by 75,000 to 80,000 people.
