Moldova has chosen to join the EU as a path to freedom, prosperity and peace, which is why it relies on the support of European partners in obtaining candidate status, stated Nicu Popescu, Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, at the 132nd Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, taking place in the Italian city of Turin.
Popescu told his European counterparts that since the early days of the war in Ukraine, Moldova has shown solidarity to the Ukrainian people. “Russia’s war against Ukraine has unleashed an unimaginable tragedy on the entire European continent, which is why our country has supported the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the organization”, the Moldovan official was quoted as saying in a press release.
Popescu also noted the intensifying cooperation between the Council of Europe and Moldova, mentioning the role of the organization in strengthening democratic institutions in Moldova through the Council of Europe Action Plan for 2021-2024. Justice reform occupies a central place here, and the Council of Europe’s High Level Group of Justice Experts has a special role to play in this process, said Minister Nicu Popescu.
During a meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, the two officials took stock of the developments since the last meetings in Chisinau and New York. “On this occasion, I appreciated the work of the High Level Working Group of the Council of Europe, set up with the support of the Secretary General, a group that assists our national authorities in the process of reforming the justice sector”, said Nicu Popescu.
A separate subject, which remains a central concern of Moldovan diplomacy in the relationship with the Council of Europe, was the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and the operation of the eight Romanian-language schools, as well as the binding nature of the judgments pronounced by the European Court of Human Rights.
The Moldovan delegation is to hold a series of meetings with the foreign ministers of Austria, Estonia, Denmark, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Malta, Switzerland, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Italy, Norway, Serbia and Spain in the margins of the event.
