Moldovan parliament deputy speaker stands for accession to NATO, regrets majority of Moldovan citizens oppose this

CHISINAU. March 23 (Interfax) - Moldovan Parliament Deputy Speaker Mihai Popsoi has said he believes that "no one can ensure security better than NATO."

He said this at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of the 13th meeting of the Moldova-European Union Association Interparliamentary Committee scheduled to take place in Brussels on Thursday.

"We don't have enough votes in the parliament to change Moldova's neutral status, as stipulated in the Constitution. We cannot do that now, but what we can do and are doing is that we have started a public debate to critically assess what real security guarantees a neutral status can give Moldova. And I am sure that no one can better provide security for any country in the Euro-Atlantic region than NATO. And this applies to Moldova, as well," Popsoi said when asked by reporters in Brussels.

"It is extremely difficult to break through this wall of incomprehension," he said. "That's why we began these public discussions, so that citizens could assess other options for ensuring security [apart from neutrality], including possible NATO membership. But, unfortunately, the recent polls show that support for this step is approximately 30%," Popsoi said.

As Interfax reported before, President Maia Sandu said in an interview to the Politico publication following the World Economic Forum in Davos that she "assumes that Moldova could give up its neutrality stipulated in the Constitution, but only during a democratic process."