Stratan hopeful EU will start bargaining new accord with Moldova

Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan hopes the EU states will empower the European Commission to start negotiating a new accord with Moldova, till the year-end, Info-Prim Neo reports. Stratan told journalists that would be the next logical step, after earlier this week, the EU Foreign Ministers had adopted their Conclusions as to Moldova. According to the document, the EU is ready to negotiate a new accord with Moldova, providing for gradually bring closer Moldova and the EU, including closer commercial ties and introducing a no-visa travel regime for Moldovans. “The Conclusions are positive for Moldova, they are multi-dimensional and mirror the cooperation of this country with the EU and are evidence that the EU strongly stresses the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. This matches our wishes, since we have repeatedly said that we want to have a more ambitious document, politically, with the EU,” he said. Stratan stated the future document could be called 'EU association agreement', with special chapters concerning the free trade and the liberalized visa regime. He said the liberalization was going to be enjoyed by the Moldovans, but this depended not only on the Moldovan authorities, but also on political consensus among the Eu countries on the issue.