Moldova’s parliament on Thursday endorsed a call to continue its fight for European Union membership, but the opposition refused to take part in the vote and Transnistrian representatives urged authorities to drop claims to the enclave.
Moldova has applied for EU membership in 2022 and in March received a draft framework for EU accession talks with neighbouring Ukraine. President Maia Sandu has called for a referendum on EU membership this year.
After a debate timed to coincide with the EU summit in Brussels, the 101-seat parliament adopted by a vote of 54 to 0 a declaration that reads as follows:
“Only joining Europe can ensure the future of the country as a sovereign, neutral and full-fledged democratic state”.
It called EU integration “Moldova’s highest-priority national project”. The opposition Bloc of Communists and Socialists walked out of the meeting room.
In Transnistria, a piece of land that seceded from Moldova amid the collapse of the Soviet Union, self-proclaimed President Vadim Krasnoselsky called on Moldovan authorities to recognise his territory and renounce all claims to it. He said on the enclave’s television:
“There is no other way out. There can be no more talk of autonomy. You must walk away from these territories.”
Last month, elected officials asked Moscow to take diplomatic measures to protect the region.
EU summit last year gave the green light to membership talks with both Ukraine and Moldova, but no date for the start of the negotiations has been made public and no announcement was made on the matter at Thursday’s meeting in Brussels.
