“Moldova should not wait for the EU to make it ratify the Rome Statute, but do it itself,” executive director of the Foreign Policy Association Victor Chirila said in the meeting of the Association's Press Club on July 26. Moldova signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on September 8, 2000, but has not yet ratified it. Though all the documents are ready, the Statute has not been yet discussed in Parliament, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The ratification cannot be postponed endlessly. The dialogue and relations with the EU develop and time will come for a decision to be taken,” Victor Chirila said. He stressed that Moldova should transform this ratification into an advantage and prove that the Government is fulfilling its commitments to the EU. Mihail Popsoi, associative expert of the Association, said the Ministry of Justice prepared all the documents needed to ratify the Rome Statute in 2006, while on October 2, 2007, the Constitutional Court validated the bill proposed by the Government. It was submitted to Parliament on January 29, 2008, but has not been put to the vote. The expert said that if Moldova ratifies this document, it will show its intention to establish a common international criminal justice system, will strengthen the legal system and will prove its wish to become part of the EU. According to him, the cost of ratifying the document this year will be at most €2,000. In this connection, Mihail Popsoi reiterated several of the civil society's recommendations for the senior authorities. Among these are: the Parliament should include the ratification of the Rome Statute in its agenda; the Government should include the given issue in the medium-term plan of action with the EU; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration should open discussions to sensitize and convince the U.S. of the importance for Moldova of ratifying this agreement, while the National Participation Council should monitor the process of ratifying the Rome Statute. Eugen Revenco, the head of the Foreign Ministry's International Law Department, said that Moldova lags behind in ratifying many international agreements, but priority will be given to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The International Criminal Court, governed by the Rome Statute, is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The Rome Statute was adopted on July 17, 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002 after ratification by 60 countries.