A future Partnership Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union in security and defense is a consistent step that normally derives from the new national security strategy of the Republic of Moldova, the permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan stated in a public debate titled “Why is a defense agreement with the EU necessary?”.
According to Igor Boțan, Moldova is obliged to ensure its security even if it has the status of neutrality enshrined in the Supreme Law. In this regard, there is the Constitutional Court’s judgment of May 2, 2017, which says that the authorities of a neutral state have the obligation to ensure the security of that state outside military alliances. Over the years, the authorities have sought to achieve this.
The expert reminded that in 2003, when the Party of Communists was in power, the Law on the status of foreign military force in the Republic of Moldova was adopted. The authorities at that time considered that such a law was needed. In 2006, the same government signed the IPAP agreement with NATO.
Igor Boțan noted that the future agreement with the EU, which is “an umbrella-arrangement”, covers the security aspects mentioned above, plus new things that appeared together with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In particular, it goes to issues related to cybersecurity and disinformation, assistance to the defense sector through the European Peace Facility, etc. The community of European states must somehow coordinate its efforts to meet the challenges.
The expert said that the measures that are to be adopted were learned from Ukraine’s experience. The fact that Ukraine was attacked, but managed to resist during the first weeks was an incentive for the international community to mobilize and provide support. The minimum Moldova can aspire to is to attract support to combat cyberthreats and disinformation attacks, as they occur around the clock, and to equip itself to resist an eventual attack.
In the same connection, Igor Boțan stated that those who are against European integration “are renegades”, referring to politicians from the PCRM and PSRM, many of whom come from the PCRM, because “they were the ones who signed the European Integration Agreement of the Republic of Moldova, they were the ones who made efforts to ensure in 2005 a national consensus between the political forces that signed the Declaration on Integration European”.
“Those who advocate the European integration start from the national consensus, but the renegades have undermined this national consensus and are now making waves. Vladimir Voronin laid the foundations of the concept of the involvement of Moldova’s armed forces in training with other partners, participation in peacekeeping missions, and the citizens must understand that what is happening today is nothing but the foundations that were laid by renegades who today oppose the European integration. Their rhetoric is that they talk about peace without condemning a war on the border of the country. But peace can intervene after wars end,” said Igor Boțan.
The public debate entitled “Why is a defense agreement with the EU necessary?” was the 305th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates”. The project is implemented by IPN News Agency with the support of the German “Hanns Seidel” Foundation.
