Moldovan President Maia Sandu, together with the ruling Action and Solidarity party, usurped the idea of European integration, pushing aside other pro-European political forces, the press service of the opposition Renaissance party said.
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On Sunday, the administration of the head of state said that Sandu intends to run for a second term and took the initiative to parliament to organize a referendum so that citizens could express their opinion on the republic’s accession to the European Union.
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“Today Maia Sandu and the Action and Solidarity party have usurped not only power in the country, but also the idea of European integration. The referendum announced by the president is nothing more than a PR campaign for the ruling majority. No matter how other parties try to embrace this idea, they will not be able to pull the blanket over themselves,” a statement published on the party’s Telegram channel says.
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The opposition notes that the price of such European integration will be loss of sovereignty, high tariffs, poverty, degradation and severance of relations with strategic and historical partners.
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“The realities are such that by voting in a referendum for European integration, the voter is actually voting for the Action and Solidarity party and only strengthens the position of the “yellow” regime,” the party emphasized.
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The EU summit on December 14 decided to launch negotiations on future membership of the European Union with Ukraine and Moldova. In June 2022, the EU granted EU candidate country status to Ukraine and Moldova, setting several strict conditions for the formal start of accession negotiations. The EU has repeatedly admitted that such a decision was largely symbolic in order to support Kyiv and Chisinau in their confrontation with Moscow. The status of a candidate country in itself, as well as the start of negotiations, does not necessarily mean that the country will join the European Union; these steps also do not oblige Brussels to anything.
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Obtaining candidate status is only the beginning of a rather long journey towards joining the EU. Turkey has been in candidate status since 1999, and has been negotiating membership with the EU since 2005, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010, and Serbia since 2012. Croatia was the last country to join the EU in 2013; the process took 10 years.
