Description: Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister, Cristina Gherasimov, has stated that her country wants to start EU accession negotiations as soon as possible following the expansion of Russian hybrid threats and disinformation operations, targeting the government in Chisinau. Moldova initiated EU accession talks in Jun last year alongside Ukraine, however, several EU member states have remained skeptical and objected their accession to the Union under the current circumstances. Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, has been the loudest critic of Moldova’s and Ukraine’s EU accession attempts, warning that it may implicate the entire continent in the war with Russia. Other EU Parliament representatives have stated that accession protocols last several years, and the initiative was a mere political positioning and declaring the EU’s political will to introduce both countries into the bloc. The statements from Gherasimov arrive ahead of the scheduled EU – Moldova Summit, expected to be held on Friday, 04 Jul in Chisinau.
Impact: Moldova’s and Ukraine’s accession to the EU at this point in time would most definitely expand the dimensions of the war on the European continent, as one of the so – called root causes in Russia’s reluctance to engage in resolving the war, is the eastward expansion of EU and NATO. Ukraine’s engagement in the war with Russia severely impacts the country’s national ambitions to enter the Union and represents a move of negative value for the EU at this point. Moldova is also engaged in a disputed territorial war with Russia in the region of Transnistria, where Russian separatist movements are heavily engaged in tampering with the country’s national EU ambitions. Moldova is also heavily reliant on Russian energy supply which makes the country’s EU accession even more difficult. Europe is politically, ideologically and economically disjointed and a potential enlargement push would further threaten the Union’s stability and potentially prompt Russia towards expanding its aggression westward.