Moldovan Parliament backs bid to join EU, but divisions remain

Moldova’s Parliament approved an appeal to continue with the country’s bid to join the European Union on Thursday, but the opposition boycotted the vote, while separatists in Transdniestria urged authorities to abandon their claim to the enclave.

President Maia Sandu has made EU membership the cornerstone of her government in the former Soviet state, which is located between Romania and Ukraine. She claims that Russia poses the greatest threat to Moldova’s security.

She has been a strong opponent of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and has demanded that this year’s EU membership vote take place.

After a debate coinciding with an EU summit in Brussels, Parliament adopted by a vote of 54-to-0 a declaration saying, “Only joining Europe can ensure the future of the country as a sovereign, neutral and full-fledged democratic state”.

It identified EU integration as “Moldova’s top priority national project.” Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries.

The opposition Bloc of Communists and Socialists, sympathetic to Moscow, walked out of the chamber.

In Transdniestria, a sliver of land which broke away from Moldova as the Soviet Union was collapsing, self-styled President Vadim Krasnoselsky called on Moldovan authorities to recognise his territory and renounce all claims to it.

“There is no other way out,” he said on the enclave’s television. “There can be no more talk of autonomy. You must walk away from these territories.”

His region, he said, was “not separatist,” but “a normal neighbour” seeking peace and stability.

Transdniestria, heavily dependent on Russia for financial support, has no international recognition, not even from Moscow.

It has remained on Moldova’s eastern border for 30 years with little turmoil, but tension has risen since Moldovan authorities imposed customs duties in January on all goods entering and leaving the region.

Elected officials last month appealed to Moscow for diplomatic measures to protect the region.

An EU summit last year gave the green light for membership talks with both Ukraine and Moldova, but no date for the start of talks has been made public, and there was no announcement on the matter at Thursday’s meeting in Brussels.

Moldova has been engaged in an escalating row with Russia, with the Ukraine war and Transdniestria as the focal points.

Authorities summoned the Russian ambassador twice in the past week over Moscow’s decision to open six polling stations in the enclave for Russia’s presidential election, and a Russian diplomat was told to leave the country.

Moldova faces disputes with a second region in the south, Gagauzia, whose leader met Russian President Vladimir Putin this month and is linked to a fugitive pro-Russian businessman sentenced to 15 years in absentia for mass fraud.