The EU will continue providing Moldova with political and economic aid as well as support for military capacity building.
This was stated today by President of the European Council Charles Michel at a joint conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu. He noted that Moldova has been hit hard by the pandemic, the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, with our country hosting the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita, and the EU will continue providing it with comprehensive assistance and support, including for managing the flow of refugees, economic recovery and solving problems with energy supplies. "We will be in solidarity, it is our duty to help you, to increase support for Moldova's security, territorial integrity and sovereignty. We will continue supporting your country economically and politically," Charles Michel said. He recalled that 13 million euros is earmarked for humanitarian programs in Moldova, 15 million euros for migration management and 15 million euros for applying and strengthening cross-border assistance of the EU. "This and other assistance will help Moldova face different challenges. This assistance will also concern the energy sector. Moldova was previously connected together with Ukraine to the continental European power grid ENTSO-E. It was also decided that it would have access to a joint platform of the EU for purchase of energy resources, which will help consolidate Moldova's energy security," Charles Michel said. According to him, in defense and security, the EU will help Moldova increase its resilience and cope with the effects of the crisis of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Charles Michel pointed out that this year the EU plans to increase support for Moldova by providing additional equipment to the Armed Forces, will help strengthen support for our country's cyber security logistics and cyber defense. "Today we discussed how we can provide more military assistance to Moldova. Of course, I won't go into the details of these decisions yet. We want to prevent incidents. We want to support Moldova's stability, sovereignty and independence. It is important for us now to avoid an escalation of the conflict," said Charles Michel. He said that now it is necessary to refrain from making provocative statements, and it is important for the EU to prevent the escalation of the situation in the region and to support the efforts of the Moldovan authorities to maintain stability on both banks of the Nistru River. President of the European Council also said that the EU will continue supporting Moldova's justice reforms, the fight against corruption, and other reforms launched in the context of Moldova's application for EU membership. // 04.05.2022 – InfoMarket
