Moldova officially invited by Russia to join the Eurasian Union
Russia addressed an invitation to Moldova to join the Customs Union. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that his country is ready to accept Moldova if they will be interested.
“If Moldova will be interested [to apply], we are ready to consider the application,” Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Moldovan counterpart Vlad Filat.
Russian Premier emphasized that such membership should come as the state’s national interest and that it cannot be imposed. This is valid for both the European Union and the free trade zone of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
“Participation in any integrated structure must be voluntary, not imposed, and taken in line with the national interest. Same thing is valid for the Customs Union, the free trade zone of the CIS or the European Union,” Dmitry Medvedev said. He added that Russia has never forced their partners to accept anything.
“Of course, it is our interest to have the Customs Union enlarged,” Mr. Medvedev said.
Also known as the Eurasian Union, the project is a proposed political and economic union between former USSR republics which is due to be established by 2015. It is still at a project-level and it is expected to be signed between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus when all the regulations will be set. The union will ensure a single customs territory after the model of the Schengen zone.
Vlad Filat has previously stated that Moldova will not join the Customs Union because his state has another pathway – the European integration.
“Republic of Moldova has set a very clear goal. This aim is the European Union integration, which erases from the beginning the possibility to join another community,” Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat said in May this year.
According to him, Moldova will continue to have strong relations with the countries of the CIS, which are former Soviet republics. He said that Moldova will cooperate at bilateral level with the countries of the Eurasian Union.
“It is our interest to exist good relations,” Mr. Filat explained months ago, “but our top priority is Moldova’s integration within the European community.”
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