Foreign affairs minister of Nordic-Baltic 8 format say Moldova to take historical decision in several days

Chisinau, 15 October /MOLDPRES/ -

Presidential elections and a constitutional referendum on the accession to the European Union will take place in Moldova on 20 October.  

Moldova’s citizens on 20 October 2024 will participate in a constitutional referendum, during which they will answer the question: ‘’Do you support the amendment of the Constitution for Moldova’s accession to the European Union?’’

The foreign affairs ministers of the Nordic-Baltic 8 (NB8) format, at a today’s  conference in Chisinau, urged the Moldovans to go to vote at the referendum and turn to good account the country’s historical chance. ‘’In several days, Moldova will take a historical decision. We hope that the presence of the citizens at the referendum will be massive. We want to see Moldova as a successful state on its European integration way,’’ the director general for Euro-Atlantic affairs ad security policy of Sweden, Torbjörn Sohlström, has said.    

The Swedish official noted that one of the reasons of the meeting from Chisinau was to back Moldova’s citizens, who will have to take an important decision at the end of this week.  

„As for the reason for which we, the managers of this Nordic-Baltic framework, wanted to come to Moldova, is to be present here, where in several days, a historical decision will be taken. A decision at the referendum, decision which fully belongs only to Moldova’s citizens. We hope that the presence will be massive. We will always be with the citizens of Moldova and will support the free and independent choice,’’ Sohlström said.      

The heads of the diplomacies of the Nordic and Baltic states appreciated the progress made in the European integration process and gave the examples of their countries, which have earlier joined EU.  

„We have not come here to give lectures; we have not come here to see what decision you take. We are here to tell you about our experience, of Estonia, which in the last 20 years has transformed and the citizens’ incomes grew more than four times. This decision on accession, which we took in 1991, when we regained the independence after five decades of Soviet occupation, showed us that we are not alone. We understand that the times are more difficult now and namely for this reason, we have come to share our experience, to back the citizens of Moldova, on their way to the European Union’s family,’’ Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister  Margus Tsahkna said.   

„I believe that, at this referendum, the citizens will firmly make their choice and we will be happy to greet Moldova whet it joins the European Union. I can only say that the European Union consolidated our, Latvia’s sovereignty. Now, we really participate in all decision-taking processes; we are much stronger regionally. The European Union also provided us a growing economy, six-fold higher salaries and pensions. We, the citizens of Latvia, are quite happy to be members of the European Union’s family and we are looking forward to having an extended family and to welcome Moldova and other countries which aspire to this accession,’’ Latvia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Baiba Braže said.      

The Moldovan diplomacy head, Mihai Popsoi, also urged the Moldovans to participate in the referendum.  

„This week, our citizens face an important test – the referendum on accession to the European Union. This event is a crucial opportunity to prove our determination to protect our values and to cope with the interferences of Russia, which tries to destabilize our democratic process and undermine the confidence in our institutions. We stay firm in our commitment to edify a European, modern, democratic Moldova, able to cope with the contemporary challenges and to assume an ever active role in the European Union,’’ Mihai Popsoi said.  

Eight foreign affairs ministers of Nordic-Baltic 8 (NB8) format - Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden - are visiting Chisinau on October 15. The meeting was hosted by Deputy PM Popsoi.

Nordic-Baltic 8 (NB8) is a regional cooperation format on topical regional and international issues. In 2024, NB8 is chaired by Sweden, which took over the coordination of the format after Latvia in 2023.