Moldova’s application for EU membership was signed two years ago. During this period, as President Maia Sandu says, the country has taken many decisive steps on the path of European integration, which, according to her, mean better living conditions and, most importantly, peace and security. How determined the European integration steps were, what traces these steps have left in people’s lives and how felt these “traces” have been so that we can further bank on popular support for the European integration of the Republic of Moldova were among the subjects discussed by experts invited to IPN’s public debate “What traces “two years of decisive steps on the European path” have left”.
According to the permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan, a country’s application for EU membership is usually an official letter signed by the senior executive authority of the country, the President or the Prime Minister, in which the country expresses its commitment to respect and promote the values upon which the European Union is based and to take all the necessary steps.
“The Treaty on European Union (Article 49) lays down the conditions a candidate country must meet to become a member state: any European state which respects the common values of the Member States and undertakes to promote them may apply to become a member of the European Union. The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. This is what Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union states. The request shall be submitted to the European Council and the European Parliament and national Parliaments shall be notified of such a request,” explained Igor Boțan
The expert noted that candidate country status is conferred by the European Council on the basis of an opinion from the European Commission, drawn up following an application for membership of the European Union by the country concerned. This status does not give a right to join the Union automatically.
“Accession negotiations relate to the conditions under which the country will be admitted to the EU and focus on the adoption and implementation of the EU’s body of law (the acquis). The aim is that the candidate country fulfils the conditions for membership, often referred to as the 'Copenhagen criteria,” said Igor Boțan.
MP of the Party of Action and Solidarity Mihail Druță believes that the European integration is the quintessence of the current government’s domestic and foreign policy. According to him, in 2021, when PAS won the parliamentary elections, the party pledged to submit the application for EU membership by 2025. “But the events in the country and in the world allowed submitting the application earlier, in advance. It is no secret that the application was submitted earlier due to the regional security situation. When the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, the attention of the whole world turned to our region,” noted the lawmaker.
Mihail Druță considers that in those dramatic days, Kiev made different statements, announcing also the intention to urgently join NATO and to become part of the EU according to an accelerated procedure. In a few days, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova also filed the application for EU membership. “We do not have the right to make statements and say that our accession, the positive steps we have taken on the path of European integration are exclusively due to the war in Ukraine. That’s not true. There was a war before 2022 too. Basically, this war started in 2014 with the seizure of Crimea by the Kremlin regime, but nobody applied then. There was also a war in Georgia in 2008 and no one applied to join the EU. It was a result of both internal and external factors,” stated the MP.
According to him, a war also exists for Belarus, but this country does not intend to join the European Union. Here, the internal factor comes to the fore, which is the nature of governance in this country. “A lot of work has been done, efficiently. From an external point of view, we were happy to have as the head of state a politician like Maia Sandu, who has shown over the years an unreserved attachment to the values of Western liberal democracy, which are the basis of the establishment and functioning of the European Union. She demonstrated this both internally and externally. Also, we were happy that Nicu Popescu headed the Foreign Ministry and has been appreciated in Brussels, Bucharest and who managed to pursue a very effective policy,” said Mihail Druță.
Dinu Plîngău, chairman of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform”, a representative of the Political and Electoral Bloc, said that society has been talking about the European integration for many years, since the Party of Communists was in power. The discussions advanced when a large part of Moldovan citizens migrated to European states, where they saw an advanced model of life. Respectively, this aspiration was transmitted to the citizens who remained in the country, whose paradigm of perceptions was somehow changed.
“Throughout history there are obviously circumstances or objectives that are currently difficult to achieve, but circumstances are created to enable to achieve them, depending on a particular regional context. When the war was started by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, there was obviously a polarization in the area. The gray color was erased and, respectively, society, the people, especially countries, had to make a choice - either they align themselves with the states of the civilized world, such as the member states of the European Union, the Western states, or they take sides with the aggressor,” said the politician.
In his opinion, this facilitation or opportunity to submit the application for membership also appeared due to the political context in the region and the external circumstance was the main factor that helped to take political decisions much faster. The external circumstance also changed the perception, both of the societies of the EU Member States and of politicians, who were under great pressure from the electorate in these states, seeing the atrocities in Ukraine. “The second factor is the internal one because it is not enough to have only an external opportunity to submit this application as there should also be politicians at the helm of the state who are ready to draw up this letter with the intention of joining the EU. It was an important factor – the declared pro-European government,” noted Dinu Plîngău.
According to him, this request was not submitted as soon as external opportunities appeared. There was a slight hesitation on the part of the government given the attempts to obtain particular political advantages. “Probably, there was a certain analysis as to the duo or the acceptance of the Republic of Moldova in tandem with Ukraine. This duo, at the initial stage, was advantageous to us in the development of the relations with European partners. But everyone realizes that the war in Ukraine can last and the postwar rehabilitation process can take even longer. Now there will be a much more complicated process related not only to the political will at the level of the EU or of Chisinau, but also to particular conditions that the state must fulfill on this path,” said Dinu Plîngău.
The public debate entitled “What traces “two years of decisive steps on the European path” have left” was the 301th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
