An eventual defeat by Russia in this war will open up unexpected opportunities for settling the Transnistrian conflict, said Romanian political commentator Sorin Ioniță. According to him, if Ukraine resists the Russian invasion, this could later lead to the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Republic of Moldova. Moldovan experts noted the probability that the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell will discuss in Chisinau eventual applications to join the EU is low, IPN reports.
Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission, is expected to make an official visit to Moldova on March 2 in connection with the security crisis in the region. Expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” Igor Munteanu said Moldova’s accession to the EU will most probably not be on the agenda of discussions.
“Josep Borell is the envoy who is to assess the assistance needs of the Republic of Moldova. The visit is not made to discuss an accession request of the Republic of Moldova, similar to that made by Kyiv. In times of war, the accession is not discussed. Applications to join the EU have never been discussed during a war. The key priority of an envoy of such a rank is to determine how the European funds and assistance can be used in a more efficient way so as to increase the resilience capacity of the Republic of Moldova,” Igor Munteanu stated in the talk show “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
For his part, Sorin Ioniță, president of Expert Forum in Bucharest, said an eventual failure of Moscow in this war will represent a unique opportunity for the Republic of Moldova to achieve foreign consensus for resolving the Transnistrian dispute. The security crisis in Ukraine will take us to the ball or to the hospital.
“Moldova is obliged to get ready to take the opportunities that will appear. This means that if Ukraine resists and the Kremlin suffers a strategic failure, the situation in Transnistria can be unblocked and opportunities that hadn’t existed during the last 30 years can appear. The Ukrainians will no longer want to tolerate something like this close to their border when things calm down. They will insist that the Russian military should leave together with that old, Soviet armament,” stated Sorin Ioniță.
Yesterday, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed an application for Ukraine to join the European Union. He asked the EU to allow his country to become part of the European community according to a special procedure.
