The European Political Community Summit that was held in Bulboaca on June 1 was a favorable event for the Republic of Moldova. For its impact to be really felt, the pro-European forces need to work together and pave the way for opening the accession negotiations with the European Union, said experts invited to IPN’s public debate “EPC Summit – opportunities opened for acceleration of negotiations with the EU”.
The chairman of the European Social Democratic Party of Moldova Ion Sula said he is sure that this credit of trust offered to the Republic of Moldova should be profited from when the country aspires to join the EU. However, the combination of forces and a lot of responsibility in decisions and actions are necessary for achieving this desideratum.
“This summit once again enabled the Republic of Moldova to make the headlines, but we must not stop at June 1 as life in the Republic of Moldova continues and we have a lot of work to do at local level. What we appreciated a lot is that regardless of the political color of the leaders in Europe, these realized that to combat aggression, we need to demonstrate this unity and this signal was proven here, in the Republic of Moldova,” stated Ion Sula.
The chairman of the Coalition for Unity and Wellbeing Igor Munteanu said the summit of June 1 wasn’t a festive holiday and the discussions there weren’t held in conditions of abstract solidarity. Emphases were placed on the way in which the Europeans can build the resilience of Ukraine and on how the European leaders can strengthen the feeling of responsibility of Chisinau, of the Republic of Moldova towards the tasks that need to be fulfilled and also on solutions.
“They discussed all these things: energy, how Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova can be anchored in the accession process and the mutual responsibility of the states that want to join the club and, evidently, the European Union cannot deny the importance of the traction of the EU membership status for each Moldovan or Ukrainian citizen. The important thing I want to note is that, despite the fact that there is a war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian citizens’ adhesion to NATO and the EU is much higher than in the Republic of Moldova. This shows that the acknowledgement of the affiliation to this unifying political space for European peace is greater in Ukraine. The level of national cohesion and mobilization is higher there. In the Republic of Moldova, owing to the problems that weren’t solved in the past, the Russian anti-Western narrative and the narrative that led to division inside the Republic of Moldova continue being looked for, exploited and used as a kind of Trojan horses against our European identity,” stated Igor Munteanu.
The chairman of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” Dinu Plîngău said that besides the symbolical connotation of this event, the most significant progress has been probably made in the diplomatic sector, especially for improving particular relations with the states where the Republic of Moldova does not have embassies and this was a very good occasion for initiating particular discussions, considering existing problems at bilateral level.
“Evidently, the Republic of Moldova at internal political level enjoyed encouragement, essential enlivenment for our society that has pro-European aspirations. What happens after this summit is now important. It is extremely important, and they insist on this in the public sphere, that the Republic of Moldova should do its homework. Undoubtedly, we must not consider that this summit confirmed the Republic of Moldova’s membership in the European Union. These are distinct things. To be able to accelerate the negotiations, we must hasten the implementation of reforms, fulfill the conditions and take the required actions and strengthen the institutional capacity of the Republic of Moldova to meet especially the people’s expectations to have better living conditions, normal justice and comfort tomorrow,” stated Dinu Plîngău.
The public debate entitled “EPC Summit – opportunities opened for acceleration of negotiations with the EU” was staged within the framework of IPN’s project “Support for European Integration by stimulating discussion in the mass media about the European Political Community (EPC) Summit” that is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.
