Sandu: Russia cannot stop Moldova from joining the EU

Maia Sandu, President of Moldova

At a press conference in Chişinău, Maia Sandu noted that there are two scenarios for Moldova's accession to the EU - with and without Transnistria.

She considered the “best case scenario” to be a situation in which Transnistria is reintegrated with the mother country and Moldova joins the EU in its entirety. “We are working on it,” she noted.

At the same time, she did not rule out a second scenario, in which the right bank of the Dniester controlled by the Moldovan government could integrate with the EU earlier than Transnistria, located on the left bank.

As she explained, the presence of Russian troops in this separatist region constitutes a "serious obstacle" to its reintegration, which, in her opinion, should not block the process of European integration of the rest of the country.

"We do not want Russia to be able to veto our EU integration process. (...) Russia does not want Moldova to become part of the European family, to strengthen its democracy and sovereignty," said Maia Sandu.

Representing the EU side at the summit in Chisinau, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, stressed that the so-called first cluster of Moldova's accession negotiations to the EU should be opened as soon as possible.

The European Commission has already recognized that Moldova and Ukraine have met the conditions for this, having carried out the necessary reforms. However, the opening of each of the clusters requires unanimous consent of the member states, and Hungary does not agree to progress in negotiations with Ukraine. This de facto blocks Moldova as well, since the accession processes of these two countries have been grouped together.

In addition to accession negotiations, EU financial support for Moldova was a significant topic at the summit. Von der Leyen announced the disbursement of the first tranche of €270 million from the €1.9 billion “growth plan,” the largest-ever EU support program for Moldova. The first funds released will go toward building a hospital and improving the country’s heating system, among other things, which is still largely dependent on Russian gas.