The member states of the Visegrad Group - V4 (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary)
support Moldova’s European direction and are the most devoted friends of the Moldovan pro-European authorities, Hungarian Deputy State Secretary for Global Affairs Szabolcs Takacs said in a news conference in Chisinau, IPN reports.
Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the V4. “We, in Visegrad, believe that becoming a member of the European Union certainly helped us to take over certain structures and mechanisms and modernize our economies and, through economic modernization, there was a very big social development,” said the European official.
Szabolcs Takacs said the four Visegrad countries went through the same experience as Moldova more than 20 years ago. They had to restructure the whole political sphere as well as the economy and the society. Very important economic and social changes took place. The process wasn’t without difficulties and pains. These changes are still ongoing. It’s not a finished business. But the democratic, political structure has already been solidified in all the four countries.
“We believe that democracy also brings transparency at a much higher level, and transparency certainly helps fighting corruption. The ideal situation would be if there was no corruption at all. But I think that corruption is as old as the history of humankind. The level of corruption is certainly a key element of healthy economic growth and modernization of the economy,” said Szabolcs Takacs.
According to the official, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova will know more about the European Union when they can travel freely to the EU. He expressed his optimism that the decision to liberalize the visa regime will be approved by this May. Also, the implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU will give enough guarantees for investors to invest money in Moldova.
Deputy State Secretary for Global Affairs also said that Moldova is not a neighbor only to Europe, but it’s a neighbor also to very important countries to the East, like Russia. It’s the goal of the Visegrad countries to have good cooperation with Russia, including in the economic sector.
The representatives of the Group V4 paid a visit to Moldova on January 23-24. They had meetings with a number of officials, including Head of Parliament Igor Corman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Natalia Gherman, Deputy Prime Minister Eugen Carpov, the Governor of Gagauzia Mihail Formuzal, and leaders of political parties. The delegation also traveled to Tiraspol.
