Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said Moldova would continue to work with the EU to “cleanse its system of the toxic influence of criminal oligarchs” as part of a concerted effort to advance its EU membership bid, Euractiv reports.
Following the publication of annual progress reports on EU enlargement, which included Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova for the first time, EU officials labelled Chisinau the “frontrunner” in terms of the speed of reforms needed for full EU membership. Popescu said in Brussels after the European Commission recommended on Wednesday (8 November) opening accession talks with Moldova:
“We are very conscious that we have a lot of work ahead, but Moldovan society and our government have its eyes firmly on bringing the country into the EU. We are optimistic because we know how much we did in terms of reforming Moldova consolidating our democracy, pursuing justice sector reform, pursuing de-oligarchisation, pursuing energy resilience, and strengthening Moldova’s capacity to contribute to the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy – and we know that our European partners and the European Commission and the EU member states have noticed.”
The commission says Chisinau has yet to implement three of its nine recommendations, including completing judicial reform, introducing additional anti-corruption measures and making progress in economic performance.
Speaking of unimplemented reforms, Popescu acknowledged that Moldova might still have a long way to go when it comes to justice and internal affairs reforms. He added:
“We know that the work of de-oligarchasing Moldova is not finished […] We will continue working together with the EU to keep cleaning Moldova’s system from the toxic influence of criminal oligarchs. Besides talking about what is in the report, the main thing is that we want to structure the next weeks and months and so we are in a starting position for the formal start of accession talks.”
Asked whether he expected a “green light” at December’s EU summit, Popescu said Chisinau was “working with every member state” to make it happen.
Earlier this month, Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s pro-European party came top in hundreds of local elections but failed to win mayoral seats in major cities, including the capital, in a weekend vote that observers said was marred by foreign interference and the omission of a pro-Russian party.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which monitored the election, said the campaign was distorted by “an influx of illegal and foreign funds and monetary incentives used to influence voters’ choices”.
