EU candidate status to provide Moldova with access to world's most developed market - President Sandu

CHISINAU. June 24 (Interfax) - The granting of European Union candidate country status to Moldova shows it a European development path, President Maia Sandu said.

"Candidate country status gives us a clear direction of our development, support on this path, and most importantly, hope. We are a small and vulnerable country, which would feel more secure when it becomes part of the European family, in which we could count on support from all members and institutions. Belonging to the EU also means access to the richest and the most developed market in the world," Sandu said at a press briefing on Friday.

"The situation will not change overnight after candidate status has been granted, as a lot of hard work is still ahead," Sandu said, attributing the current hardships in Moldova to the conflict in Ukraine.

Moldova expects more support from the EU to improve the wellbeing of its people and provide preconditions for developing the business environment, she said.

Sandu dismissed allegations that Moldova's EU candidate status was made conditional upon some secret obligations the country has to undertake. "There are no secret conditions. All of our understandings with the European Union are stipulated in the agreements signed. The obligations are also well-known, there are recommendations from the European Commission that we are supposed to implement. The European Union is an open, democratic, and transparent organization. The European Union wants the same that our citizens want, namely democracy, wellbeing, peace, and observance of human rights," she said.

On Thursday, the leaders of the European Union countries agreed to grant EU candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.