We're dismayed at Moldova's decision to introduce visas for Romanians: EU Commissioner

“We're dismayed at Moldova's decision to introduce visas for the Romanian citizens,” said the EU Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, at a news conference in Brussels on the implementation of the neighborhood policy. Moldova implements an action plan within this policy and has already developed a new agreement with the EU, which is to be signed the coming months with the foreign ministers of those 27 EU member states, Info-Prim Neo reports. The conference was relayed for Moldovan journalists by the Delegation of the European Commission to Moldova, and then EU officials took questions. Gunnar Wiegand, a director for Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Central Asia from the European Commission, has said the Moldovan officials namely insist on easing the visa regime with the EU countries. That is why he considers Moldova and Romania should quickly reach an agreement on the visa issue. The Moldovan parliament abolished the visas for the EU citizens in 2007, and the government introduced them again for a single EU state – Romania – after President Vladimir Voronin had accused that country of organizing the April 7 demonstrations in Chisinau. Moldova is one of the two countries in which the European Union is implementing pilot-projects on issuing visas for some of its member states. This project is viewed as a success in the Moldova-EU action plan in 2008, stated the head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Moldova, Cesare De Montis. Other successes were recorded in “settling the Transnistrian conflict” (the EU helps Moldova and Ukraine to fight smuggling along the Transnistrian segment – e.n.), and the economic progress in 2008, before the global financial crisis. The bilateral trade surged to 2.3 billion euros, making the EU the first among Moldova's trade partners. Meanwhile, the EU granted Moldova assistance as grants worth 100 million euros last year. As areas in which “insufficient progress was made” Cesare De Montis highlighted “the big issue of the fundamental human rights and freedoms, to which we paid special attention since 2008 was a pre-electoral year.” The EU is also concerned about raising the electoral threshold to 6% to enter the parliament, about banning public functionaries to have dual citizenship and about the business climate “which is not fully satisfactory to make Moldova an attractive country.” In the same context, the EU is concerned that not all the electoral competitors had enough access to radio and television. On May 7 in Prague, the EU is willing to launch the Eastern Partnership, “which is not a league, nor an alliance, but a frame through which the EU wants to deepen the relationships with the eastern partners,” said Gunnar Wiegand. When asked what the EU wants instead of the money it gives Moldova, Gunnar Wiegand has said the EU wants “Moldova to transform into an attractive country which the youth would not want to leave.”