Brussels, 18 May 2022
“An enormously powerful message was sent by the European Parliament to the people of Moldova. President Maia Sandu gave a statement in the chamber, after which the European Parliament debated a very important European Parliament report”, Foreign Affairs Coordinator Anna Fotyga said, speaking on behalf of the ECR Group today. “We acknowledge Moldova as a member of the European community of nations that want to realise their aspirations, and we want to help the Moldovan authorities and people achieve EU candidate status as soon as possible”, Fotyga continued.
Fotyga noted that today the EU sent a very powerful signal to the citizens of Moldova, who in these extremely difficult times, have survived a period of instability and difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and showed enormous support and generosity in welcoming Ukrainians fleeing atrocities in a war waged by Russia in Ukraine.
“We managed to produce a very good report, which we issued jointly in consensus over political divisions”, Fotyga said.
As a neighbouring country of Ukraine, Moldova has been particularly hard-hit by the ongoing war. In addition to having received a large number of Ukrainian refugees, it has also experienced cyberattacks and a recent series of security incidents in the Russian-backed breakaway region of Transnistria. Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moldova formally applied for EU membership in early March 2022. The European Parliament also called for the country to be given EU candidate status in a resolution adopted on 5 May.
Following the speech of Moldovan President Maja Sandu, who spoke on the war in Ukraine and its consequences, a debate was held on the report on the EU association agreement with the Republic of Moldova. MEP Anna Fotyga, ECR shadow rapporteur for this document, took the floor in the discussion.
Source – ECR (via e-mail)