Leaders from France, Germany and Poland have travelled to Moldova to show support for the country’s accession to the EU and warn of Russia’s “relentless” efforts to undermine that ambition.
The visit comes as Moldova marks 34 years of independence from Moscow, declared as the Soviet Union fell apart.
But it is also taking place a month before critical parliamentary elections in which the EU and the Moldovan government fear pro-Russian elements could gain ground.
Flanked by European heads of state, Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu told her country that it proved EU membership was “not a distant dream, but a project we are working on”, one that is vital as a guarantee of security.
“The merciless war that Russia wages against Ukraine shows us daily that Europe means freedom and peace, whilst Putin’s Russia means war and death,” the president said.
Ukraine is close by, just across the border.
Last year Sandu called a referendum on enshrining the goal of EU membership in the constitution. The “yes” vote narrowly won.
Shortly after that vote, the president, who went to Harvard and used to work for the World Bank, won a second term after a tense second round.
There were allegations of Russian interference with evidence of everything from widespread disinformation campaigns to paying cash for votes, as our own team discovered on the ground.
Today, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that is because Moscow “is trying relentlessly to undermine freedom and prosperity in Moldova,” as Vladimir Putin attempts to return it to Russia’s fold.
In response, Sandu is focused on forging strong relations with Europe.
In Chisinau she laid out the red carpet for her guests, greeting each of the leaders in turn before leading them up steps lined by soldiers standing to attention in white, elaborately embroidered capes.
Inside, in front of EU flags, President Emmanuel Macron described membership of the bloc as the “clear and sovereign choice” of Moldova and said he was there to convey “a message of solidarity and confidence” in that process from France.
Donald Tusk recalled how Poland’s own journey from beneath Moscow’s shadow towards EU accession had been littered with challenges, but worth the work. “You have chosen the right path,” said the Polish prime minister. “You chose peace not war, and we support your aspirations.”
Moldova has been a firm supporter of Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, fearful that its own land was also in Putin’s sights. Today, Merz said that Europe and the US were “putting everything” into trying to end the war there.
“We want to see the weapons in Ukraine finally to fall silent …ideally today…but not at any cost,” the chancellor warned. “We don’t want to see the capitulation of Ukraine. Such a capitulation would only buy time for Russia, and Putin would use that to prepare the next war.”
President Sandu’s party, PAS, are hoping that elections next month will give it a new mandate to push ahead with reforms and keep moving closer towards Europe, after the country began formal accession talks last year.
But polls suggest PAS will lose seats – and likely its majority – in parliament.
Which is why the president called in the European cavalry for Independence Day: keen to make Moldova’s path to EU membership as “irreversible” as she asserts.
