Over the last six months at least, following the parliamentary elections of November 30, 2014 and the formation of a new government, the European integration process became a secondary one, being rather a subject for discussion rather than an objective for being achieved, says the recent Foreign Policy Bulletin of the Institute of Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, produced by Leonid Litra, IPN reports.
The author notes the assertion by the chairman of the Democratic Party Marian Lupu, reiterated by the PLDM through Valeriu Strelet, that Moldova should not file an application for joining the EU because this will be turned down is a clear signal that Moldova does not want to develop the relations with the EU. Earlier, ex-Premier Iurie Leanca and Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Gherman as well as President Nicolae Timofti said that Moldova will file the application for joining the EU in the second half of 2015.
According to Leonid Litra, the giving up of the idea of submitting the application can have several explanations. The coopting of the Party of Communists into the minority ruling alliance as ‘a member of the family without documents’ is one of the causes for the tempering of the cooperation with the EU. The idea was given up in order to make the presence of the PCRM in the coalition comfortable so that the last can keep its voters and can defend the position stated in the election campaign.
The author also said that the current government took a break in the relations with the EU and we could witness the re-balancing of the relations with Russia by invoking the necessity of reestablishing the relations with China. The ministries, such as the foreign one, maintain a favorable approach for deepening the relations with the EU at least at declarative level.
In conclusion, Leonid Litra says there is a political decision in Moldova to temper the European course of Chisinau and to take a break in the relations with Brussels so as to strengthen the PDM-PLDM-PCRM coalition and to reduce the EU influence, limiting it to the Association Agreement. On the other side, the filing of an application for accession to the EU, regardless of the end result, will stimulate the dialogue with the EU and will offer the EU additional instruments for intervening in the internal processes in Moldova.
