Moldova not to become EU member but to continue building relations with it - Dodon
MINSK. April 18 (Interfax) - Moldova will not become a member of the European Union, Moldovan President Igor Dodon said.
"I think Moldova won't become a European Union member. This train is already losing carriages itself, and there is no need for us to rush there," Dodon said in an interview with the Belarusian state news agency BelTA.
At the same time, Moldova will seek to build relations with the EU and "introduce some reforms based on European principles," he said.
"We will adopt the best of what exists there, and we will adopt the best of what exists in Belarus as well. We will borrow from everyone, both from the West and from the East. But we are not going to become part of a geopolitical project," he said.
Moldova will be granted observer status in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and might become a member in a more distant future, he said.
"I am actually not of the view that we should focus narrowly on just one side by assuming a pro-Western or pro-Russian position," Dodon said. "We need to be friends with all. This is exactly why I signed the memorandum on the EAEU and filed a bid for observer status in April 2017. And we will receive this status. Whether we will become an EAEU member or not is not an issue of tomorrow, because this requires preparations," he said.
If Moldova had access to the EAEU markets, it could create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the country, he said.