Nicu Popescu: "We are working also on a new plan to speed up the European integration process"
Moldovan authorities will soon unveil a plan to speed up Moldova's European integration process and hold several meetings with European leaders. These are some of the objectives that the Moldovan government is working on, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu during hearings on the state of implementation of the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union by the national authorities, which took place on Tuesday 31 January in Chisinau.
The liberalisation of the visa regime with the EU and the Free Trade Agreement, obtained thanks to the signing of the Moldova-EU Association Agreement in 2014, allowed the development of Moldova's foreign trade, about 2/3 with European countries. With the achievement in 2022 of the status of candidate country for accession to the European Union, the implementation plan of the 9 EU recommendations in the areas of justice reform, fight against corruption and organised crime is underway.
Work is currently underway on the law on de-oligarchization and on the second plan to accelerate EU accession, said Nicu Popescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, during the presentation of our country's achievements in the EU accession process. "Our objective is completing all the measures foreseen in this plan by 31 March this year. We are working these days and weeks on a law on de-oligarchization. We are also working on a new plan to accelerate the European integration process in all areas related to the 33 chapters of EU accession. We plan to implement a series of measures by the end of spring this year, and in October the European Commission will publish a report on all candidate countries, including Moldova," the head of diplomacy in Chisinau explained.
Nicu Popescu also said that the next important stage in the interaction with the European Union is next week's Association Council in Brussels, where he will go with a delegation led by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița.
On the agenda of the discussions are several objectives, including the advancement of concrete achievements in Moldova's relationship with the European Union, both in terms of strengthening energy resilience, energy interconnection, integration of our country into transport corridors, accelerating the liberalisation of roaming with the European Union and other important topics.
