CHISINAU, Nov 8. The European Union opens the door to Moldova, giving status candidate for accession, recommending to start negotiations on this issue, but doing everything so that there is always the opportunity to close this door at any time, said political analyst Korneliy Ciurya.
On Wednesday, the European Commission recommended starting negotiations on accession to the EU with Ukraine and Moldova and conditioned the provision of a negotiating framework on the fulfillment by Kiev and Chisinau of a number of preconditions.
“I think that the EU will now invite us and open the possibility of starting negotiations, but purely formally. The EU, in view of the regional situation, cannot say a firm no to Moldova. This politically follows from what the European Union has done recently. But the invitation itself is not enough what will it mean. Because in the future it is unknown how much Moldova will comply with this process, how much the European Union will want to continue the discussion. That is, the European Union, without much risk to itself, can open the door a little, but not very much, so that there is always an opportunity to close it. I think This is the logic of the game now: to open the door to the EU slightly, but leave the opportunity to close it at any time,” Churya said.
According to him, next year there will be elections to the European Parliament, and therefore European officials cannot sharply criticize Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. “Now the European Commission is on the last hundred meters before the elections. They have built relations with Moldova and Ukraine throughout their entire mandate, and at the end of this mandate, scolding them, saying no, even if everything is bad in Moldova and a dictatorship is being established, will mean that this their failure. Therefore, they do not want to take on this responsibility,» the expert explained.
In March last year, Moldovan President Maia Sandu signed an application for the republic to join the European Union, noting that the process of European integration needs to be accelerated. The heads of state and government of the European Union at the summit in Brussels on June 23 approved the granting of candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova for joining the union. The European Commission has set nine conditions for Moldova that the country must fulfill in order to join the EU.
Relations between Russia and Moldova began to deteriorate after President Maia Sandu, who adheres to a pro-European policy, came to power in the republic at the end of 2020. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov stated that Moldova, under the current authorities, is striving to become an unfriendly country for Russia. Moscow calls on Chisinau to listen to the interests of its own citizens and not to hinder the development of human contacts and interregional ties with Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the Moldovan authorities to stop confrontational anti-Russian rhetoric in the country. They added that Moscow is determined to have friendly relations with Moldova and is not pleased that this country is being used by the West for anti-Russian purposes.