Accession to the EU is the best way to guarantee the stability and security of Moldova in the long term, and the accession negotiations must be started before the end of 2023 - Siegfried Muresan.
The Vice-President of the European People's Party group, chairman of the European Parliament delegation to the Parliamentary Committee for the EU-Moldova Association said this in the context of Tuesday's discussions in the European Parliament on the situation in Moldova and the challenges that the Moldovan authorities have to cope with. He noted that since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, he has said that Moldova is just as important to Romania's and the European Union's security as Ukraine is, and this was very clearly demonstrated last year. "By the way they handled the refugee crisis and other consequences of the war in Ukraine, the Moldovan authorities and citizens did the EU a favor and contributed to the security of us all. With a servile and anti-European government in Moldova, Russia would now be more dangerous for all of us using this country," said Siegfried Muresan. He stressed that the people of Moldova want a country with the rule of law and justice, a country that moves toward the European Union. "Russia wants Moldova to remain poor and controlled. Moldovan oligarchs want a country where justice doesn't work and where they can continue to steal with impunity. That is why the Russian Federation and the Moldovan oligarchs are doing everything they can to destabilize this country," Muresan noted. In his opinion, accession to the European Union is the surest way to guarantee Moldova's stability and security in the long run. He noted that in parallel with the beginning of accession negotiations, the EU should take as many measures as possible to integrate Moldova into Europe, such as joining the single market and reducing roaming fees. "The sooner the people of Moldova experience as many of the benefits of European integration as possible, before actually joining the EU, the harder it will be for Russia to manipulate, misinform and destabilize the situation. We must also continue to provide financial assistance to Moldova so that it can stabilize its economy and take steps to help people. This is why we want to pass the new macro-financial assistance of 145 million euros in the European Parliament as soon as possible," Siegfried Muresan stressed. According to him, it is equally important that the EU continues to help Moldova reduce its dependence on gas from Russia. "The less energy dependence Moldova has on the Kremlin, the less tools Russia has to blackmail. In parallel, we can also help by imposing EU-level sanctions on Moldovan oligarchs who are working to destabilize the country, just as we also imposed sanctions on oligarchs from the Russian Federation responsible for the war in Ukraine. And last but not least, we must continue to help the Moldovan authorities to secure their borders and fight against disinformation emanating from the Russian Federation," Siegfried Muresan stressed. // 14.03.2023 – InfoMarket
