Last week’s announcement that the Republic of Moldova had received the status of EU candidate country is going to be a game changer for Chisinau, but it will also bring new challenges.
More money for development
First of all, from the country where the EU used to operate with the usual neighborhood policy instruments, the Republic of Moldova is from now on a candidate to EU accession. This translates into access to new tools and policies, which the Chisinau authorities will be allowed to use in the future.
First of all, it will have access to pre-accession funds, which are substantially bigger than the various loans or grants that the Republic of Moldova currently receives.
For example, the Republic of Moldova will have the opportunity to get funding for infrastructure projects such as the construction of new roads or bridges. So Brussels will encourage the infrastructure connectivity with the EU, in this case Romania, over the Prut River.
This is the same access to funding that several countries in the Western Balkans, which are in various stages on their European accession path, have benefited from, through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance .
They have received financial support from the EU for various projects such as cross-border cooperation, regional development (transport, environment and economic development), human resources development (strengthening human capital and combating exclusion) and rural development.
All these areas had already become priorities for the pro-European government in Chisinau and the country has also gained some experience working with European partners, but it does not mean that the European money will start flowing immediately.
“It is a process that will not happen overnight. It is important for us to understand how these new tools work, but also for the EU to adjust them to the new reality. But I want to stress, though, that the Republic of Moldova, by implementing the Association Agreement with the EU, has achieved much of the EU legislation standards and has been implementing similar projects”, said the head of the Mission of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union, Ambassador Daniela Morari, in a press conference held last Friday in Brussels.
One problem is that in Chisinau there is a shortage of qualified staff who can write European projects. The Chisinau authorities must move along this dimension as quickly as they did when filling in the questionnaires for the European Commission. Here, too, financial help from the Western partners is needed to attract expertise from specialized NGOs in the Republic of Moldova, or experts from abroad.
Also, even if the Republic of Moldova has already been implementing projects jointly with the EU, since the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, there is a need to readjust the approach to fit such larger-scale projects.
Chisinau had an unexpected chance, but did not receive a “blank cheque”
The decision to grant the status of candidate country to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova was political, not technical, being announced during a “geopolitical summit”.
The Republic of Moldova has managed a fantastic sprint of about three and a half months from the submission of the application for EU membership on March 3 to the receipt of the status of candidate country for EU accession on June 23. It is an unexpected chance for Chisinau, but it is not a “blank cheque”, because the European course poses new challenges. The decision of the European Council brings along a series of requirements that the Republic of Moldova will have to fulfill in nine steps by the end of the year for the European Commission, which will draw up the next monitoring report on the situation in the Republic of Moldova somewhere in the spring.
These requirements cover the reform of the judiciary, the adjustment of the human rights and domestic violence legislation, the fight against corruption, the elimination of oligarchic elements and the fight against organized crime, the administrative and public service reform, the inclusion of civil society in decision-making.
Therefore, the Republic of Moldova will have some “homework” to do until next year. Obviously, the most complex and difficult to achieve will be the requirements regarding the reform of the justice system, which will mean fast “deliverables” on issues extremely difficult to combat in such a short period. Especially against the background of the fight that the Moldovan oligarchs are putting up from a distance to maintain Moldova’s status quo of “gray country” in the justice sector.
Obstacles and threats from Moscow, who is not very happy about the Republic of Moldova’s European integration
But obstacles do not end here. We might be witnessing a greater activation of Russia, which already has the Republic of Moldova in its sight, as a first reaction after the news from Brussels.
The first to give the signal was Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said the day after the European Council's decision that the Republic of Moldova wants to “cancel everything Russian, as Ukraine does”, referring to a law recently promulgated by the head of state Maia Sandu regarding the information security of the media space in the Republic of Moldova.
More precisely, the law bans the rebroadcasting of news bulletins and politico-military programs from states that have not signed the European Convention on Transfrontier Television, implicitly Russia.Maia Sandu replied to Lavrov that “this law is the sovereign decision of Parliament, of the Presidency of our country, and it was necessary to combat disinformation.”
“We do this and we will keep doing it to ensure an objective information space, so that our citizens can judge based on objective information, and not from propaganda and fake sources”, Maia Sandu also stated in her response.
The string of Russian attacks against the Republic of Moldova continued, this time including Romania in the package of veiled threats, with a favorite narrative of the Russian propaganda meant to rekindle fears and phobias: the Republic of Moldova and Romania want to reunite, and the EU is just a screen for this goal.
“The Republic of Moldova has joined a long queue for EU membership, which will be there for decades. Bon voyage! But [they] want it faster! Therefore, there is another way to gain EU membership: to create a new Greater Romania”, Medvedev said on his Telegram channel, answering a question about how quickly Moldova could join the EU bloc.
The Romanian MFA's response came quickly and reiterated that such statements “are part of the false rhetoric, with which we have already become accustomed, used by the Kremlin and propagated in the Republic of Moldova both before and after the illegal, unjustified and unprovoked aggression perpetrated by Russia against Ukraine”.
“The reaction […] indicates, in addition to a high degree of frustration, one certain thing: the decision made by the European Council to grant the status of candidate country to the Republic of Moldova is a correct decision and represents a truly historic achievement, a reconfirmation of the European vocation and orientation that the Republic of Moldova and its citizens have”, a Romanian MFA communique reads. On the other hand, the diplomacy in Chisinau has also stated that the European integration of the Republic of Moldova is a sovereign decision supported by the majority of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.
“The Moldovan-Romanian dialogue is being developed on the basis of the strategic partnership for the European integration of the Republic of Moldova. It is a well-known fact that Romania was the first state to recognize the independence of the Republic of Moldova, now becoming the main trading partner of our country and an active supporter of the processes of European transformation of our country. This mature and mutually trusting relationship between two sovereign states with many common goals is a model of bilateral dialogue”, said the MFA in Chisinau.
The tough part is yet to begin
Therefore, in the immediate future, the Republic of Moldova must quickly take a series of measures requested by Brussels. This is necessary for the next stage, namely a new decision of the European Council to open negotiations on accession chapters for the Republic of Moldova.
The authorities will have to move fast and at the same time be able to cope with the socio-economic difficulties caused by the war, but also with a potential energy crisis, given that Russia has these levers. Attempts to destabilize the domestic pro-Russian forces or the Transnistrian separatist region are also possible.
After the moment of exuberance last week, the Republic of Moldova must seriously get to work, and the help from its partners, Romania in particular, must be intensified, as well as keeping the country under the security umbrella of the West.
