The juridical base for establishing and developing the EU-RM relationship has been
constructed due to concluding the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the
European Communities and their Member States, on the one side, and the Republic of
Moldova, on the other side. It was signed on November 28, 1994, entered in force in 1998 and
was foreseen for 10 years with the right to prolonging in case of positive cooperation results.
Right after its constitution as an independent state in 1991, the Republic of Moldova
had manifested a great interest in integration into the European space. In 2004 the country
was included by the EU in its European Neighbourhood Policy, the latter, however, was not
oriented toward the integration of the covered countries into the union but to deepening the
cooperation with them. Within the ENP there was elaborated a joint EU-RM Action Plan for
2005-2008 which allowed attributing to the cooperation between the EU and the RM deeper
and more practical character. Owing to considerable progress in implementation of the socioeconomic,
political and cultural reforms stipulated in the EU-RM Plan of Action as well as
being sound in its interest in integration into the EU space, the Republic of Moldova, along
with other few states of the European Neighbourhood Policy, had been included in the EU
Eastern Partnership (2009) which was formed to encourage those six partner countries of the
EU in their passage from cooperation with the EU to the integration into it, as a long-term
perspective, by the means of more profound multidimensional reforms, standards
harmonization, markets assimilation as well as the easier access to the resources of each other
for mutual benefit.
Having leaned upon the Eastern Partnership strategic vision, the Republic of Moldova
has initiated the constitution of other than the PCA juridical base for the developing relations
with the EU. As an outcome, in January 12, 2010 the EU and the RM launched a negotiation
process regarding an Association Agreement. The rounds took place in 2011 and are
continued to be in 2012. The process is highly relevant if taken into account the appearance of
Eurasian Customs Union which welcomes Moldova. The country, hence, has to make
decisions of vital importance, keeping balance between its own interests and the interests of
its strategic partners (the EU, Romania, USA and Russia).
The current negotiation process with the EU can be considered as a fruitful one in sense of the
elaboration of a number of particular Plans of Action regarding the Visa liberalization, Integrated
Borders Management, Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area etc.
The participation of the RM in the ENP and the EP as well as the current negotiation process
contribute to the acceleration of the integration of the country into the EU: creation of common
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education space by the launch of Bologna Process (2005), becoming a part of the EU Energetic
Community (2010), entering the European Research Area by associating with FP7 (2011),
participation in number of Programs and Projects of the EU such as TACIS, Jean Monnet, Sigma,
Twinning, TAEX etc. which allow harmonization of managerial, educational, research and other
domains. Moldova signed the perspective financial agreements with the profile Banks of the EU – the
European Bank for Investments and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development which
presuppose the support of SMEs of the country, infrastructure projects, environmental projects etc.
Due to the Mobile Partnership and the EUBAM, such specific issues of common interest as migration,
asylum, trafficking in human beings and drugs, border management and customs control are
addressed.
The actual and perspective strategic documents elaborated by the RM government
under the ENP and EP are the Country Strategy Paper 2007-2013, the National Indicative
Program 2011-2013 as well as the “Rethink Moldova” Program launched in 2010 and
supported by the international donors.
The specifics of the current negotiation process regarding the new juridical base for the
EU-RM relations is in fact that it reflects the EU 2014-2020 Financial Perspective priorities
so that the further reforms in Moldova are designed in line with the EU possibilities and
interests, on the one hand, and the RM ones, on the other hand. For contributing to this
process of correlation of mutual interests and possibilities, the present Analysis has been
conducted within the international project “Bridge”. The research is based on the annual
Reports regarding the progress of the EU-RM relationship fulfilled in the period of the project
2008-2012. The annual Reports not only registered the facts related to the development of the
EU-RM relations in key domains of cooperation (politics, economy, law, civil society,
education and research) but also reflected the events organized by the “Bridge” project for the
sake of deepening mutual understanding between the EU and such its neighboring states as
Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus as well as a country of strategic partnership – Russia – at the
levels of government, civil society, university and academic community etc. by the means of
such instruments as conferences, round tables, workshops and joint research activities. The
present Analysis combines, therefore, dynamic approach to the EU-RM relationship with the
multidimensional approach to it. It is finalized with the recommendations to both the RM
government and the EU authorities which have been drawn and expressed not only by the
author of the Analysis but also by the representatives of the civil society, university and
academic community and the EU experts in time of international professional meetings within
the project. The author has also been based in this Analysis on the national and the EU
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statistical data and documents as well as the relevant research materials worked out within the
projects implemented by the profile civil society institutions, the mass-media sources, taking
into account various points of view for making the Analysis as objective as possible in order
to trace the perspectives of the EU-RM relationship for the benefit of both sides.