Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Oleg Țulea is expected to make a visit to Brussels in autumn. According to Tatiana Molchan, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the institution is now preparing the minister’s first visit abroad.
“Belgium imposed rather harsh sanitary measures, but we hope such a trip will become possible in autumn,” the functionary stated in a public debate at IPN entitled “European integration of the Republic of Moldova, myth or reality?”
Tatiana Molchan noted that Moldova managed to regain the EU’s confidence. “We ended last year without enjoying great trust on the part of the foreign partners, in general, and the European Union, in particular. That’s why the restoration of the political dialogue and multilateral cooperation with the EU was one of the main objectives set at the beginning of this year. I think we succeeded,” stated the secretary of state.
She underlined that despite the pandemic, the Ministry so far this year managed to organize a multitude of fruitful meetings, including with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, European Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and foreign affairs ministers of almost 20 EU member states. “Surely, the meetings were held remotely, but they were of a high quality. It does not go only to the support for the citizens during the pandemic, but also to the reform process,” said Tatiana Molchan.
According to the official, the representatives of the European Union approved of the progress made by Moldova in fulfilling the last eight conditions imposed by the EU for disbursing the financial assistance agreed in 2017. “Yes, the justice sector reform wasn’t finished and there are different interpretations as to who is to blame for the failures, but the taken measures were considered a sufficient step. In the second half of this year, we intend to fully implement the eight conditions,” stated Tatiana Molchan.
Among other priorities of the Ministry’s European agenda, she mentioned the strengthening and development of the dialogue with the EU and the designing of concrete projects for the new programs of the Eastern Partnership. “There are now a lot of new initiatives and we need to make one more effort so as to have specific objectives at the next stage of the Eastern Partnership,” said the functionary.
The public debate “European integration of the Republic of Moldova, myth or reality?” was held by IPN News Agency as part of the project “Overcoming stereotypes of European integration by communication” that is implemented with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
