A number of young people from schools of Calarasi district took part in the contest of essays “In Europe through integrity”. Some of the contenders have told IPN that they were encouraged by teachers to take part and were thus able to find out more useful information about the EU.
Lilia Carashchuk, director of Transparency International – Moldova, said the goal of the event is to cultivate the European values. “We want all the children to think if we can have a European cause if we lack integrity? The fact that these children are young, but understand that the future means integrity and without it the country, society and each of us do not have a future is gladdening. We staged 50 seminars in settlements and talked to the people about the advantages of the European course,” she stated.
Attending the event, the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Pirkka Tapiola thanked the seven young winners for taking part in the contest and underlined that the fight against corruption is very important for a society stricken by this phenomenon. He said that Moldova will have a European future only after it implements reforms, its people show responsibility and corruption is eliminated. “You must decide Moldova’s future. You will not have a Europeans future if you do not build it at home. The citizens’ participation in his process is very important,” stated the official.
Student Elena Vasilache said that this contest seemed very interesting to her and she wanted to test her knowledge of the EU because an information campaign centering on the EU had been carried out in her school during three weeks. In her essay, she wrote how important the information campaigns are, saying she is optimistic that Moldova will become part of this community.
Winner Crina Stratan was encouraged to take part in the contest by her teacher, who said that this will help her broaden her horizons as she will look for information about the EU in different sources. She considers Moldova must become integrated into the EU and supports the country’s Europeans course.
The contest was organized by Transparency International – Moldova in concert with the National Anticorruption Center and East Europe Foundation with support provided by the US Agency for International Development through FHI 360.
