2023-05-18 11:15:08
Time.news – Moldova wants to join the European Union “as soon as possible” to protect itself from the Russian threat and hopes for a decision “in the coming months” on the opening of accession talks: Its president said in an interview with AFP.
“Of course nothing compares to what is happening in Ukraine, but we see the risk and we think we can save our democracy just by being part of the EU,” said Maia Sandu, just days before a pro-European rally and then an unprecedented European summit in Chisinau.
The former Soviet republic, that matters 2.6 million inhabitantsi, sees its entry into the EU as the only guarantee of not being a future target of Russia, after the invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
“Russia will continue to be a great source of instability in the years to come and we must protect ourselves”, added the 50-year-old Moldovan leader on the sidelines of the Council of Europe summit which ended yesterday in Iceland.
In February, Sandu accused Russia of plotting a coup to overthrow the government in Chisinau.
In power since 2020, the leader of Europe’s poorest country has called a major pro-EU demonstration on Sunday to demonstrate Moldova’s support for EU membership.
“The war in Ukraine has put things in black and white: now it is very clear what the free world means and what the authoritarian world means for all of us,” said the first woman to lead the small country, an entire region of the what is the Transdniestriais de facto under Russian control.
“We think membership is a realistic project and we look forward to it happening as soon as possible”, said the Moldovan president, hoping “for a decision on the opening of negotiations in the coming months”.
Last June, the EU granted Ukraine and Moldova the status of officer candidates.
While tiny Moldova, a neighbor of EU member Romania, would probably be easier to integrate due to its size, many obstacles remain to its entry into the Union. In addition to economic fragility and nagging corruption problems, Moldova also needs to find a solution to the secession of Transdniestria, a pro-Russian region of 300,000 inhabitants in the eastern part of the country.
Unrecognized by the international community, the area seceded in 1990 after a brief civil war in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The conflict has been frozen since 1992.
“We want to remain part of the free world. Let’s see what is happening in Ukraine, we see that Russia is trying to prevent the countries of the region from becoming democratic,” he insisted.
#Moldova #afraid #Moscow #join