European Parliament supports EU candidate status of Moldova

CHISINAU. May 5 (Interfax) - The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution in support of granting Moldova the status of an EU candidate.

"We, Europarl, have just adopted with large majority the resolution calling for EU Candidate Status for Moldova," Siegfried Muresan, head of the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Association Committee, said on Twitter.

The resolution says, "the EU should grant it candidate status, in line with Article 49 TEU [the Treaty on European Union article, which reads as follows: any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them may apply to become a member of the Union] and 'on the basis of merit'."

"In the meantime, the European Union and Moldova should continue work on integrating the country into the EU single market and on enhanced sectoral cooperation," the resolution says.

"MEPs call on the European Commission to swiftly complete its application assessment and provide Moldova with its full assistance while this is ongoing. They say that, without prejudging the content of the Commission's opinion, the Moldovan authorities are undoubtedly on the right track by adopting key reforms, notably on democracy, the rule of law, and human rights," it says.

The European Parliament called on the EU to provide more support for the country, i.e. via new macro-financial assistance, further transport and trade liberalization measures, and continued support for refugee management and humanitarian purposes.

The Moldovan parliament applied for admission to the European Union on March 3, following in the footsteps of Ukraine and Georgia. Moldova presented the first part of answers to the EU questionnaire regarding the situation in various Moldovan sectors last week, and the government pledged to submit the second part in the near future.

European Council President Charles Michel said during a visit to Chisinau on Wednesday that the European Commission would prepare a report on the readiness of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia to join the EU by the end of June.