Moldovan foreign affairs minister says Association Agreement most ambitious international agreement signed by Moldova
19:01 | 09.11.2021 Category: Official
Chisinau, 9 November /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Nicu Popescu has participated in the eighth issue of the Forum for European Integration, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Foreign Policy Association and Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry (MAEIE), the MAEIE press service has reported.
During a discussion titled, Re-launch and deepening of the Moldova-European Union partnership: opportunities, priorities, perspectives, the Moldovan diplomacy head said that the ‘’Association Agreement is the most ambitious international agreement signed by Moldova, which provides us even more obligations of adjusting to the EU standards than the candidates states from the Balkans have now.’’
Almost 100 days following the government’s swearing in office, the official made a review of the principal steps undertaken by the governmental team in the efforts of Moldova’s rapprochement with the European Union, with the first goal being to de-block the external contacts, in order to re-connect Moldova to the international circuit.
„Ever since the first days of work, the speed and quality of the dialogue with the European Union has significantly improved. We can say that, at this moment, we have managed to establish direct contacts with 12 member states of the European Union at the level of foreign affairs ministers,’’ Minister Nicu Popescu noted.
The official also informed about the efforts made, so that the European integration actions bring concrete benefits to Moldova’s citizens. Here, the following can be mentioned: the social security agreement signed with Greece, recognition of the Moldovan driver’s licences in Lithuania, agreement on recognition of bilingual education signed with France, as well as the liberalization of the prices for roaming, a field in which Moldova’s diplomacy promotes the signing of an agreement till the end of this year, in order to remove the roaming prices between those six states of the Eastern Partnership and subsequently with the European Union member states.
„The European Union has always been by our side, both in the good moments and in the bad moments. We highly appreciate the assistance provided in the context of overcoming the pandemic crisis, including through the approval of the plan on economic recovery worth 600 million euros, which is already under implementation. We are quite grateful for the mobilization of 127 million euros in 2021 and the delivery of one million dozes of vaccines with the support of Team Europe and, at the same time, we offer sincere thanks to the European partners also for the providing of a non-refundable assistance of 60 million euros, in order to help in the overcoming of the energy crisis,’’ Deputy PM Nicu Popescu said.
The Moldovan diplomacy head referred also to the new sectors of cooperation with the European Union, meant to complete the Association Agreement: digitalization, environment and strengthening the resilience. In this respect, in the last three months, more high-level visits took place and direct contacts were established with ten European commissioners and heads of the European Commission and European Council.
„After a break of two years, the meeting of the Moldova-European Union Association Council took place, the participants in which agreed on more important aspects as to the country’s relations with EU and namely: launch of a high-level dialogue in the energy, political and security sectors for deepening the cooperation in the field of combating the hybrid threats, cyber security, strategic communication and many other things; establishing a systemic dialogue with EU, backed by the cooperation with the Council of Europe, in the sector of justice reform; getting the decision of equalizing the COVID digital certificates; giving final touches to the new Association Agenda, which will guide Moldova’s cooperation with the European Union in the next seven years. We have also managed to sign the agreement on association to the new programme for education and research Horizon Europe,’’ Minister Nicu Popescu added.
The official referred to the actions undertaken to advance the cooperation within the Eastern Partnership, which will allow Moldova exploring new perspectives and get closer to EU. In the context, the participants in the European Partnership Summit, due in next December, are to identify several elements, which will have a political value added for Moldova and which will bring the country closer to EU from the political, economic and sectoral viewpoints.
In the end of his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu voiced confidence that the aspirations of rapprochement with EU were deeply anchored among the citizens and institutions and this degree has grown against 10-15 years ago.
Photo: MAEIE