In July 2014, IPN News Agency carried out an awareness raising campaign entitled “Myths and truths about the Association Agreement”, which tackled the main fears related to the process of signing and ratifying this accord. In almost three years, we decided to return to the same sources and the same subjects in order to see how things changed in evolution and if the expectations that existed before the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU were met.
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“Moldova does not have membership perspective”
Programs director at the Foreign Policy Association (APE) Lina Grau said that judging by the developments during the past almost three years, after the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union, the Republic of Moldova can now bid farewell to the hope of becoming an EU member.
“At this moment, we can clearly say that the Republic of Moldova returned to the ‘gray space’ of Europe and remains outside the European enlargement process, also because of the external conjuncture and the developments in the Republic of Moldova. Regrettably, the sphere of opportunities that we enjoyed after we signed the Association Agreement was lost because of corruption, the political situation and inconsistency of reforms,” stated the expert.
Lina Grau also said that during the next 15-20 years Moldova cannot apply for association, not speaking about membership in the European Union. This does not yet mean that the European reforms shouldn’t be continued. The Association Agreement signed with the EU is a roadmap for improving things in Moldova, in a democratic way.
“Though the European Union has its own internal problems, it didn’t close its door for cooperation with the Republic of Moldova. This door remains open, not yet for the entry of the Republic of Moldova or other states as the situation between the EU member states now is as such. We also see the pretentions of Russia, which is expanding its spheres of influence and is trying to take over new schemes to extend its area of influence, including the media and political one. We are witnesses to what is going on in the Republic of Moldova and in Ukraine,” stated Lina Grau.
She noted that the Association Agreement brought a lot of advantages to the Republic of Moldova and opened a lot of doors. It brought expertise and financing to Moldova, a lot of benefits in foreign trade and in the security policy. The free travel is also a benefit negotiated in the period when the Agreement was signed. Regrettably, the Moldovan political class preferred to steal more than to do reforms and work for the benefit of the country and the people.
“The Association Agreement is a clear roadmap because there is a clear medium-term alternative for the Republic of Moldova to obtain membership. Now, owing to the corruption of the political class and the lack of vision in doing reforms, this perspective is closed, at least for a medium to long term,” said Lina Grau.
Alina Marin, IPN
The article on the same issue published in July 2014 is available here
