Polish Foreign Minister: Moldova is EU’s greatest hope of the Eastern Partnership
Moldova has registered a lot of progress in terms of reforms but still has a long way to go until it will achieve a free trade agreement with the European Union. These words can be found in every speech of the EU officials who visit Moldova.
The British Foreign Minister, William Hague, the Foreign Minister of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, and the Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, had a two-day long visit to Moldova on February 18-19. They praised Moldova for the reforms implemented so far but emphasized the need to make sure they are correctly applied and bring efficient results.
“I am very pleased to visit the Republic of Moldova with my Polish and Swedish colleagues, the architects of the EU’s Eastern Partnership,” the British Foreign Secretary said. “This joint visit shows our shared commitment to supporting Moldova’s European integration aspirations. With sufficient political will and a sustained commitment to reforms, the long-term perspective for Moldova is bright.”
This was the first visit of a senior British official to Moldova in the history of Moldovan-British bilateral relations. Moldova is the first Eastern Partnership member country to be visited by the British Foreign Minister.
Polish diplomat, Radosław Sikorski, said that Moldova is the country with the highest progress registered among all the states in the Eastern Partnership. He is hopeful that the Summit in Vilnius, scheduled for November this year, will solidify EU-Moldova relations.
“We have promised to speed up the legal procedures to make this relationship as consistent as possible,” Radosław Sikorski said.
“The Republic of Moldova is the country we see as the greatest hope of the Eastern Partnership. I am confident that during this Summit we will officially endorse this approach between Moldova and the EU.”
The Swedish Foreign Minister stressed the need to maintain the commitment for implementing reforms in order to achieve end results. He said that time is needed to finalize this process.
“After the negotiation procedures, this agreement needs to be ratified,” Carl Bildt said. “We promise you that we will speed up the ratification as much as possible. This will take time, but it is a good signal.”
The Eastern Partnership is a cooperation platform of Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia with the European Union. It aims on strengthening the relations between these countries and the EU by providing assistance and promoting political and economic reforms.
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