Speaker about permanent withdrawal from CIS statutory bodies: Moldova has sovereign and independent right to decide which union to be part of

The Republic of Moldova has the sovereign and independent right to decide which union to be part of. Speaker Igor Grosu made the statement today in the context of criticism from the authorities in Moscow, who stressed that our country “cannot unilaterally decide which agreements within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to remain a party to”.

The official emphasized that the Republic of Moldova has chosen to move in a different direction – towards the European Union.

“In the last five elections we have chosen the European path. We are moving in a different direction. The Republic of Moldova has the sovereign and independent right to decide which union to be part of,” Igor Grosu noted.

During a press conference, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, underlined that “the Republic of Moldova cannot unilaterally decide which agreements within the CIS it will remain a party to, and the final decision would belong to the other member states.”

Parliament today approved, in the second reading, the denunciation of the CIS Founding Agreement, as well as of the Protocol and the organization’s Statute, thus marking the country’s final withdrawal from the CIS statutory bodies.

The denunciation of these agreements was initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which argues that the CIS’s fundamental values and principles are not respected, in particular the provision that member states mutually recognize and respect territorial integrity and the inviolability of existing borders. In addition, denouncing the CIS Agreement is a natural and inevitable step in achieving the objective of joining the European Union.

The CIS Founding Agreement and its Protocol were signed in December 1991 by 11 former Soviet states, including the Republic of Moldova. The main purpose of the Agreement and the Protocol was to record the dissolution of the USSR and the formation of the CIS. In turn, the CIS Statute, signed in 1993, sets out the basic principles on which the Commonwealth is established.

As a result of the denunciation of the agreements, the state budget will save about 3.1 million lei, representing the annual contribution to the CIS budget. Relations with CIS member states will continue after the denunciation on bilateral and multilateral platforms, and the Republic of Moldova will remain a party to several CIS treaties, especially in the commercial-economic and social fields.

So far, the Republic of Moldova has denounced approximately 70 agreements with the CIS, as part of an ongoing process of aligning national policies and modernizing the country’s legislative and economic framework to EU standards and norms.