The EU-Moldova Association Agreement contains relevant provisions for the public health area, which once implemented can prevent COVID recurrence in the future, writes political researcher Dionis Cenuşa in an analytical article for the IPN News Agency.

The political researcher writes that Moldova has committed to harmonize the legislation with 4 European normative acts in the field of communicable diseases, including the creation of an epidemiological surveillance network. But, according to the current commitments, their implementation can only take place after 2023.

Dionis Cenușa considers that three provisions of the Agreement are essential in the context of COVID-19: 1) "increasing the capacity for preparedness for threats and emergencies for public health"; 2) the integration of Moldova in the EU networks in the field of health; and "progressive improvement" of relations between Moldova and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

According to him, only point three can be found in the Association Agenda for 2017-2019, which sets the priority actions on the reform agenda.

He recommends that, based on the Moldovan governance flaws highlighted by the COVID crisis, Moldova and the EU should include in the association agenda 2020-2022 references to the fast transposition of the European acquis on the surveillance of transmissible diseases.

At the same time, Dionis Cenușa mentions that the EU could provide technical-financial support to the efforts of mapping of the European health institutions, as well as to the subsequent gradual accession of Moldova to the institutions that effectively manage the COVID crisis.

Also, the political scientist thinks that it is crucial to develop a "roadmap" for concretizing the relations with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which is an institution with expertise and technical capabilities. Its services benefit the states, which have the observer status, from the European Economic Area (3 countries) and some candidate states - the Western Balkans (Montenegro) and Turkey.

The joint efforts of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia must complement the European integration process with requests for deep cooperation in the area of public health, the political researcher concludes.