Moldovan deputy premier says success of Romania's presidency of EU's Council to be also success of Moldova

Chisinau, 30 January /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Iurie Leanca, along with Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Daniel Ionita, Head of the EU Delegation in Moldova Peter Michalko and the acting co-head of the Moldova-EU Civil Platform, Alexei Buzu, today participated in the official launch of Romania’s Presidency of the European Union’s Council in Moldova. The event was organized by the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau, in cooperation with the Institute of European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.     

The event was opened by Romania’s Ambassador to Moldova Daniel Ionita, who enumerated the priorities of Romania’s Presidency of the EU’s Council. Ionita noted that Romania was set to promote political, social and economic cohesion between the member states and all European citizens. He referred to actions due to be undertaken on the eastern dimension, including the organization of a high-level meeting dedicated to the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in Brussels in next May.

The Moldovan deputy prime minister congratulated Romania on taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union, noting that this was a challenge, as well as an opportunity. This is a challenge, as it needs maximum mobilization and focusing the experience and expertise on the most complicated files, such as Brexit, elections to the European Parliament, etc. Romania will be in projectors’ light during these six months and this is a special opportunity to be in the focus of the processes and contribute to the settlement of major problems faced by EU.  

At the same time, the official stressed that Moldova had great expectations from the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council both on the dimension of the Eastern Partnership and on the agenda of the bilateral relations, as Romania understands   best of all the realities and the social and political challenges Moldova is facing.    

„In the context of the tenth anniversary of the launch of Eastern Partnership, we hope that serious discussions will be initiated on the future of this initiative, proceeding from the different aspirations of the EaP states. We rely on a greater attention on behalf of the European Union on the security problems we are facing,” Iurie Leanca said.   

The deputy prime minister reiterated the axiom according to which the European integration can take place only through Romania and together with Romania.   

„We hope that we will together manage, during the Presidency of Romania, to finish the process of removing the roaming services – thus showing an example for EU and EaP countries and bringing benefits for the citizens from both banks of Prut; to substantially advance on the energy inter-connection and construction of the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline; to reconstruct the bridges. You have every support of the Moldovan government, as we are interested in joining forces, so that the Presidency of Romania is a success. The success of Romania will be also our success,” Leanca underlined.

Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Peter Michalko came up with a message. He noted that that, during the Romanian Presidency, more important events for Moldova would be marked.

„We will together mark ten years since the launch of the Eastern Partnership, five years since the signing of the Association Agreement and of the visa regime. Romania is the country from which you have taken the first experience of European integration and which helps you hugely in the European integration,” Peter Michalko added.