Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will travel to the Republic of Moldova on Wednesday for a multi-day visit. Together with his Slovenian colleague Nataša Pirc Musar, he meets Moldovan President Maia Sandu. The program includes further meetings with politicians and visits to educational institutions.
Together with the Moldovan Minister of Education and Science Dan Perciun, Van der Bellen will visit a vocational school for computer science and IT in the capital Chisinau on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday morning, the Federal President and Pirc Musar will be received by Sandu at the presidential palace. After the trilateral talks, a press conference between the three heads of state is planned.
Exchange on European integration
On Thursday afternoon, Van der Bellen will meet Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu and Prime Minister Dorin Recean before a visit to the EU Partnership Mission for the Republic of Moldova is scheduled. On Friday, Van der Bellen will open an economic forum together with President Sandu. This is followed by a visit to the State University of Moldova, where Van der Bellen, Pirc Musar and Sandu want to exchange ideas with students about European integration.
The former Soviet Republic of Moldova is located between Romania and Ukraine and is considered one of the poorest countries in Europe. The democratically governed republic has approximately the same size and population as the states of Lower and Upper Austria. Relative to its population of 2.6 million people, the country has taken in more refugees from Ukraine than any other country. Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the European Union has supported Moldova with approximately one billion euros, according to diplomatic sources.
Kremlin angry about pro-Western course
The landlocked state was part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries, then under Russian rule and subsequently part of Romania. From 1940 to 1991, Moldova was part of the Soviet Union. In recent years, the country has taken a pro-Western turn, angering Moscow. In 2022, Moldova was granted EU candidate status under pro-European President Sandu, who replaced Russia-friendly President Igor Dodon in 2020. At the beginning of November, the European Commission recommended starting negotiations on accession to the Union.
Is “gradual” accession to the EU a feasible path?
Moldova hopes to join the EU in 2030 – initially without the breakaway pro-Russian region of Transnistria, where thousands of Russian soldiers are stationed. A “gradual” EU accession is being considered – the first step would include “the right bank of the Dniester”, the second would also include “the left bank”, Sandu said on Monday. Your country should not become a member of the European Union until the Transnistrian conflict has been resolved, because this would de facto mean “that we are giving the Kremlin a veto over the European integration of Moldova,” Sandu said. clearly.
She is convinced that “the second step” will not be long in coming – once the people of Transnistria see that the standard of living in the Republic of Moldova is steadily increasing thanks to the accession to the EU, they would certainly want to take the same step path, said the Moldovan head of state.
Source: Krone
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