Moldovan FM: Moldova's EU ambition will have no bearing on its neutrality

Nicu Popescu, Moldovan foreign minister 

© APA | Nicu Popescu, Moldovan foreign minister 

# 10 March 2022 18:40 (UTC +04:00)

"We of course hope we will get the positive signal," Popescu said. "But at the same time we're very conscious that the accession to the EU is not done overnight, or even within a few months," said Moldovan foreign minister Nicu Popescu, APA reports.

"We as a government continue to do our best to strengthen Moldova's capacity and credibility of becoming an EU member state at some point.

"We do realize that the most important thing we can do for Moldova's future is to actually make reforms: Consolidate democracy, fight corruption, improve the economy, and go down the route of accelerated, but nonetheless standard, Europeanization...of a country."

Moldova's EU ambition, Popescu said, will have no bearing on its neutrality.

The EU remains a primarily economic union, though Article 42.7 of the union's Lisbon Treaty does require "other EU countries to come to the support and aid, with all possible means, of a member state under armed attack." Traditionally neutral nations are not expected to break their longstanding neutrality policies.

"Neutrality is quite popular among...the public and the voters," Popescu said, adding that Moldova's vision was to join the EU "while remaining neutral" in a way similar to Finland, Sweden, Austria, Cyprus, and Ireland.

"We have a legal basis and a constitution that determines our action. And ultimately, we also insist on Moldova's sovereign right to decide what kind of security policies it wants to pursue, whether it's neutrality or something else."

Popescu said Russia's invasion has sown instability and tragedy throughout Ukraine and the rest of Europe. The damage done, he said, will undermine Europe and its nations for years to come.

"What already happened is tragic enough, and the repercussions of that will be felt for a long, long time. Not years, decades," he said.

"And these repercussions will be highly negative for Ukraine, for Moldova, for Russia, for Poland, for Slovakia, for Romania, for Hungary, for every European state. The sooner it ends, the shorter this recovery period will be."

The foreign minister added he is confident that Ukraine will prevail: "Knowing our part of the world, I would say that people—including the people of Ukraine, in this case—know what they want and will get it."

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