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President of the Moldovan Parliament Igor Grosu declared on Saturday that his country has everything it takes to meet the EU accession requirements.
Asked, during a joint press conference with President of Romania's Senate Florin Citu and Romanian Speaker Marcel Ciolacu, when he believes that the Republic of Moldova will become a full member of the European Union, Grosu replied: "I won't set a time horizon, but I know one thing - we do not expect shortcuts, being allowed to burn stages. We know we have to do everything by the book. We have to strengthen our institutions, prove resilience - especially in crises - because this is when you see how sustainable the state is through its institutions. We have very clear reforms and commitments set in this process: justice reform, fighting corruption, ensuring energy security. All these things are on the agenda. We will move fast, yet not to the detriment of quality. We will definitely use the experience of our colleagues, they have already gone through this and learned their lessons, we want to draw on this experience. In other words, we in Chisinau have everything it takes to move fast, we have parliamentary majority, the government and the Presidency supporting all these reforms. It all depends on us, on how fast we mobilize, and I guarantee you that things will be fast-paced, of course taking into account all international rigors and standards," said Igor Grosu.
Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marcel Ciolacu said that so far no state opposes the grant of candidate status to the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.
"After all, this is a vote with political connotations. Next week, together with MEP Victor Negrescu, I will participate in Brussels in a meeting with all the Social Democrat prime ministers and European Social Democrat Commissioners, set just a few hours before the vote on Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia. I am firmly convinced that there will be a decision to support first and foremost the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia as candidates for EU membership. Until then we are having discussions with the other European leaders, first of all with those from the Social Democratic family, and with the ambassadors to Romania. So far there have been no other opinions than of support for the three states," Ciolacu said.
In his turn, Senate President Florin Citu stressed that it is important for the Republic of Moldova to be granted candidate status free of conditionalities.
"It is the duty of all of us to make sure that no state opposes the application next week and it is important that candidate status comes without conditionalities, because we know very well that Brussels' language is often more complicated and we must make sure that there is no comma, no conditionality between the lines. We still have one week to make sure of that, and of course my party, the EPP representatives in the European Parliament and the Chamber of Deputies Speaker will make every effort to ensure that everything goes smooth next week," Citu said.
On June 17 the European Commission issued an opinion recommending that the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine should be granted candidate status for European Union membership. The EC also announced that Georgia would only move to EU membership candidate status after addressing certain priorities. This opinion will be discussed at the EU Summit on June 23-24, and the leaders of the 27 member states must unanimously greenlight the decision. AGERPRES
