Remarks by Commissioner Olivér VÁRHELYI at the joint press conference with Dorin RECEAN, Moldovan Prime Minister in Chisinau, Moldova

Joint press conference with the Moldovan Prime Minister

Thank you very much!

Dear Prime Minister, Dear Dorin, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased to be in Moldova today because with the very heavy work done here in Moldova and done together with the Prime Minister, we can now see not only the opening of accession negotiations on the 25th of June, just a couple of weeks ago, but we have seen today the colleagues starting the actual work by starting the so-called screening exercise. This means the comparing of the laws of Moldova with those of the EU, and looking at how Moldova is going to basically introduce all the rules of the European Union to become a member.

So, this is the first part of the negotiations. This is not just an academic discussion that we are having about accession, but a real one.

The other message I think I am bringing is that we have seen that the people of Moldova not only demonstrated their commitment, but also their resilience and strength in the face of a number of challenges.

The COVID crisis, then Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the energy crisis triggered by Russia, the continued hybrid threats in this country and many more challenges that would be sufficient even one by one but have all come together. This is why I think that all the reforms and the very hard work you have done despite of these crises, is a remarkable one. A remarkable one, that has also convinced all of our Member States to open the negotiations for accession of Moldova.

It is also clear that this is just the very beginning of the journey. We need this commitment to hold, we need this commitment to get even stronger because the heavy lifting comes only now.

This is why it was very important for me to see today also the Parliament, where I had only one message to all members of the Parliament - and also, we discussed it with the Prime Minister today: from here on we need a common national minimum. Meaning, all political sides and parties should be able to agree on the EU reforms enjoying priority and political support throughout the process. We will need a lot of legislation to be passed by the Parliament, lot of political decisions to be taken when it comes to establishing the enforcement capacity. So, it is not enough to legislate, but you have to have the capacity to enforce all our rules.

Of course, it is also important to see what the direct benefit of all this is to the citizens. After all, this is not just a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it has to also be seen by the public that it brings direct benefit for the people of Moldova.

I think we have proven that when the European Union is here, the European Union delivers already quite a bit in changing and improving the lives of the people in Moldova.

If you look at, for example, the energy crisis, we have been funding significantly, we have contributed to support households. Over 700,000 households with EU money have been supported to be able to cope with the rising energy costs, the energy bills.

We have also been a large contributor for renovating schools throughout the country. We have also been helping them to reduce their own energy bills when reconstruction took place.

And of course, we are convinced that it is through EU accession, that True energy security and stability can be brought long-term to Moldova. This is why we are working with the Prime Minister on connectivities, be it energy or be it transport.

The second very important element to work on now is to reinforce and create an even more secure, reliable and resilient economy.

This is why we are very proud about the results the Economic and Investment Plan is already showing. If you look at what we have achieved so far: EUR 1.6 billion of investments have already arrived in Moldova, directly into the economy. We hope to go for an even higher figure towards the end of the year. These should help key sectors.

If you look at the actual impact on the ground, what you see is that we have, for example, supported over 3000 SMEs here in Moldova to create an additional income of EUR 125 million while creating roughly 20,000 more jobs. It is through that that Moldova will gain resilience when its economy is strong.

We have also looked at how we could help Moldova to look into new sectors of the economy, new sectors that can bring growth and jobs directly. I do hope that with all the measures we are taking, for example, by also helping Moldavian goods to get to EU markets by lifting the tariffs, we are also creating business opportunities here. We have seen that there was an increase in the previous year of almost 130 percentage points of Moldavian food products in our markets.

And there is one last topic that we discussed and that was already mentioned by the Prime Minister, which is that we are now starting the disbursement of EUR 100 million, which should arrive here in Chi?inău next week. We are providing EUR 35 million of budget support and EUR 72.5 million in macro financial assistance to the country. This is the next step in our support for a more resilient and European Moldova.

Prime Minister, you can rest assured, together with your fellow countrymen, that the EU is standing by you and we want to welcome you once all the work is done.

Thank you.