Thursday

30th Nov 2023

Moldova pins hopes on EU visa pact

  • Moldova's EU aspirations hinge on Ukraine (Photo: BBM Explorer)

A visa-liberalisation decision by the European Commission on Friday is being viewed in Moldova as make-or-break for the country's EU path.

“I expect a positive recommendation from the European Commission,” Moldova foreign affairs minister Natalia Gherman told a group of diplomats and journalists in the country’s capital city Chisinau at the start of the week.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The European Commission is set to deliver its recommendation on lifting visa restrictions on the former Soviet state on Friday (15 November).

A positive assessment would still need approval from member states and the European Parliament, possibly around the end of next year.

The scheme would allow Moldovans to travel to the EU for up to 90 days a year without a visa.

A suspension clause has been introduced to prevent a repeat of previous experiences when the Balkan-EU visa liberalization process saw an upsurge in asylum claims in member states.

Low wages and crippling poverty force many Moldovans to seek work outside the country with remittances alone accounting for some 25 percent of its total GDP.

The ministry of economy says 700,000, or around half of its working population, are abroad. Many are in Russia with others in the EU and Ukraine.

Gherman noted that Moldovans are aware that the short-term visa does not grant them permission to find work in the EU.

Meanwhile, Moldova’s fragile governing coalition of three parties with pro-EU ambitions view a positive commission verdict as essential in the run-up to next year’s general elections which will pit them against the Communist party.

The coalition sees the EU as its best bet to modernise the country and is set to initial a trade agreement at a summit in Lithuania at the end of the month.

Their plan is to have the trade pact signed and the visa-free regime finalised before next year's general elections.

The Communist party sees the Russian Custom’s Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan as a better alternative to the EU.

But the internal geopolitical tug of war between the two sides is said to depend largely on Ukraine, the second largest economy and the second largest market in the region.

Kiev is also in the process of deciding whether to turn towards Brussels or Moscow - a decision that is also set to become clear at the Lithuania summit.

The commission, in an effort to help curb corruption in the country, tied numerous corruption-fighting conditions to the visa deal.

Moldovan authorities say they adopted the relevant laws last year and have already implemented most of them.

But Moldova’s prime minster Iurie Leanca has admitted that fighting corruption and reforming the justice system also requires a change in mentality.

The recent arrests of low ranking judges is put forward as an example of their efforts to help stop the practice.

“It is just the beginning because they are small fishes so to say,” he told the group of visiting diplomats and journalists.

The EU, for its part, says it expects Moldova to deliver on its promises.

“Like any other country, Moldova needs to sustain the political will to root-out corruption at all levels, including high-level corruption,” a commission official told this website in an email.

Leanca is expected to arrive in Brussels on Friday to press Moldova’s case for EU integration.

Opinion

Moldova should initial EU pact

Initialing the EU association and free trade pact in Vilnius is Moldova's best chance to build a decent future for its people.

Russia loses seat on board of chemical weapons watchdog

Russia lost its seat on the board of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for the first time in the organisation's history — while Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania were elected to the executive council.

Opinion

'Loss and Damage' reparations still hang in balance at COP28

There is still work to be done — especially when it comes to guaranteeing the Global North's participation in financing Loss and Damage, and ensuring the Global South has representation and oversight on the World Bank's board.

Latest News

  1. EU offers Turkey upgrade, as Sweden nears Nato entry
  2. Russia loses seat on board of chemical weapons watchdog
  3. Finland's closure of Russia border likely violates asylum law
  4. The EU's 'no added sugars' fruit-juice label sleight-of-hand
  5. EU belittles Russia's Lavrov on way to Skopje talks
  6. Member states stall on EU ban on forced-labour products
  7. EU calls for increased fuel supplies into Gaza
  8. People-smuggling profits at historic high, EU concedes

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  2. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  4. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  5. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  2. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  4. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  5. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  6. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us