Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip deems as a “thoughtless step” President Igor Dodon’s intention to have the country be granted observer status in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
The prime minister said in a letter to the president that the government has thoroughly scrutinized Dodon’s request on February 23 regarding his intention to sign a Memorandum on Cooperation with the EAEU and obtain the status of observer in this organization for Moldova.
“The government believes that the signing of a memorandum on cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as an application for receiving the status of an observer country within the framework of the EAEU, are infeasible, because this does not yield tangible economic or political profit for our country. On the contrary, these thoughtless steps can undermine an already fragile public and political stability in our country,” the prime minister said in a letter published on the government Facebook page.
He said with confidence that “geopolitical balance in the country may be retained while implementing the association agreement with the European Union and within the framework of the CIS.”
The prime minister recalled that within the framework of these organizations Moldova has signed 2,480 documents, including 450 international agreements, in particular, the Free Trade Agreement.
“Moldova has legal frameworks for cooperation with all of the EAEU countries on a bilateral basis. In particular, 16 documents were signed in Armenia, 109 – with Belarus, 34 – with Kazakhstan, 31 – with Kyrgyzstan and 168 – with the Russian Federation ,” Filip also said.
He highlighted that “for cooperation with these countries there are no impediments, both on a bilateral and multilateral basis, except for the Russian Federation.”
“Even if Russia will have to remove these obstacles in compliance with the agreements, which have been reached at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation, which was held on November 28-29, 2016, in Moscow. All of us have already been observing certain positive dynamics in this area,” the head of government said.
The prime minister warned the president that if the latter will continue to insist that the goals set be implemented, Moldova will be unable to fulfill the Memorandum provisions and to get actively involved in the EAEU activity as an observer without assistance on the part of executive authorities.
“Moreover, one can hardly justify extra spending from the state budget to promote cooperation with an organization which does not yield genuine benefit to our country,” Filip said.
Dodon said earlier on Tuesday that an EAEU International Conference will be held in Chisinau on April 3-4, at which the signing of a Memorandum on Cooperation with the EAEU is planned. He also said that he would file an application in May for Moldova to receive the status of an observer country in the EAEU.
