The European Union announced on Thursday that it had bestowed prestige as an EU candidate on Moldova, a flawed non-NATO Eastern European country bordering war-torn Ukraine, which is unlikely to benefit from a full-blown bloc club in the coming years.
Along the way, Moldova will want to adopt reforms in spaces such as fighting corruption, organized crime, strengthening human rights and the rule of law. The former Soviet republic — landlocked between Romania and Ukraine — asked to register the 27-nation bloc just days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council and president of the EU summit, tweeted the resolution to grant Moldova and Ukraine candidate status and called it a “historic moment” that “marks a step on their way to the EU. “
Since its independence in 1991, Moldova has been plagued by endemic corruption and hardcore oligarchs. It shows that he is caught between pro-Russian forces and those, such as pro-Western President Maia Sandu, who seek to forge closer ties with the West.
“We are following the path of the EU, which will bring Moldovans more prosperity, more opportunities and more order in their country,” Sandu wrote online after the EU decision.
“We have a complicated road ahead, which will require a lot of work and effort, and which we are in a position to travel, together, to ensure a greater future for citizens,” he added. Moldova has a long term in the European Union. “
In an article published this week in the media, Sandu described Moldova, Europe’s poorest country with a population of around 2. 6 million, as “a European land caught up in geopolitical battles. “
“The ruthless and senseless war opposing Ukraine reminds us that peace and freedom are no longer acquired,” Sandu wrote, adding that Moldova’s bid for the EU stems from “a preference to remain in the free world. “
In April, tensions in the country soared following a series of explosions in Transnistria, a Russian-backed dissident region of Moldova that has some 1,500 troops, and fears rose that it would be drawn into the war.
Transnistria has around 470,000 inhabitants and has been under separatist rule since the civil war in 1992.
The EU club would offer Moldova, which is constitutionally neutral, any security guarantees as the NATO club would.
The Commission said it would monitor Moldova’s progress in meeting the criteria explained and provide a “detailed assessment” until the end of 2022.
The EU is Moldova’s largest trading partner and investor. In 2020, about two-thirds of Moldova’s exports went to the EU and more than a portion of its overall industry with the bloc.
Dionis Cenusa, an analyst at the Chisinau-based think tank think tank, says that while it is “premature to communicate about accession,” the prestige of Moldova’s candidate may provide “a general direction for the country’s long-term development. “
“The EU candidacy can be used through the government to calm the population and businesses (community) in the context of the security crisis over the Russian war against Ukraine,” he told The Associated Press. “The reforms in Moldova will count on the professionalism of the government, as well as the progress in Ukraine. “
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Follow the APs of the war in https://apnews. com/hub/russia-ukraine
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