EU Delegation in Chisinau praises Moldova's effort, regrets Ukraine's passivity

Moldova is ahead of Ukraine in the liberalization of its visa regime with the European Union due to the more active work of the country's authorities, Acting Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Dirk Lorenz has said.

"If you compare Ukraine and Moldova, I would like to say that the government of Moldova has always been proactive," he said during the Kyiv-Chisinau online conference on Friday, Sept. 7.

According to Lorenz, the EU has the principle: the more a country does, the more response it gets.

Speaking about the legal framework, Lorenz said that Moldova has practically complied with all requirements as early as 2011. He noted that in June, a report was made public about the implementation of the dialogue on the visa regime between the EU and Moldova.

"And the findings that were published in this report suggest that Moldova had met all the targets that were set... and now they can go on to the second stage of implementation," the diplomat said.

He also noted that Ukraine and Moldova had started their dialogues with the EU on visa facilitation almost simultaneously.