Marianne Mikko: Moldova has still a long way to go to meet EU- Moldova Action Plan

Moldova has still a long way to go to meet the goals of the EU-Moldova Action Plan and this makes Moldova rather far from the European Union, Marianne Mikko, co-president of the EU-Moldova Cooperation Committee, stated at the closing session of the Committee on Tuesday, October 2, in Chisinau. At the same time the EU official stated that if no major changes occur, starting on 1 January 2008, some categories of Moldovan citizens will benefit from an easier visa regime for the EU countries. Among these, she mentioned the students, businessmen and artists. Victor Stepaniuc, co-president of the Committee on behalf of Moldova stated for his part that the discussions within the Committee focused on the progress in accomplishing the Moldova-EU Action Plan. In his words, most of the commitments under the Action Plan have seen progress, but of course there were also recommendations on how to improve the situation. In particular, he referred to the economic sector, the social and political life, and the Transnistrian issue. Stepaniuc further stated that the Moldovan representatives, though appreciated the work of the European Visa Application Centre, consider that the process is in need of radical improvements, including a larger number of countries that will take part in issuing visas. They pointed out that there is too much paperwork until a visa is issued, so the access of Moldovans to the European Union is to a large extent limited. Some deputies advocated for a visa-free access for Moldovans, since Moldova doesn’t request visas from the citizens of the EU countries either.