Tens of thousands of people participated, at the call of President Maia Sandu, in a large pro-European demonstration in Chişinău.
Faced with an unprecedented energy crisis, which it is coping with thanks to the help offered by Romania and the European Union, and subjected to hybrid threats from Russia, the Republic of Moldova understood, after three decades of swinging between the East and the West, who its true political friends are. And the European Union is among those that the small Eastern European state, with a majority Romanian-speaking population, can really rely on.
The confirmation came directly from the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who was invited, on Sunday, to the great pro-European assembly convened by President Maia Sandu in Chişinău. Moldova is not alone, Europe is Moldova, Moldova is Europe – said, in Romanian, the European official. She has given assurances to Moldova that the European Union will support it in the integration process. Roberta Metsola said that they gathered there at a special moment, to send a pro-European message to the international community, adding that she gave them, in the month of May, the answer of the European Parliament: go ahead, keep it up, Moldova is not alone!
Roberta Metsola praised the Moldovan citizens for the solidarity they showed toward the aggressed Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees, and on the other hand she condemned the Russian policies of threats and blackmail towards Moldova.
The best way to get rid of Russian blackmail is integration into the European Union, Maia Sandu told her fellow citizens: „European Moldova means a Moldova with strong and reliable friends, who will not leave us alone in front of the aggressors who bring wars and kill people. We can only be safe together with the European family. This war clearly shows us that we no longer want to be blackmailed by Moscow.”
The Republic of Moldova became an EU candidate country in June last year, a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. President Maia Sandu is now pleading for accession until the end of this decade.
Maia Sandu: „Moldova’s place is in the European Union. Our country project and our goal is for Moldova to be, by 2030, a full member of the European family. This is not just my commitment. We have the support of the European Union on this path and that is what the people of the Republic of Moldova demand. They asked for it every time they went out in the street to defend their rights. They asked for it in the elections. They are asking for it now, when we have once again got together to decide the fate of Moldova. Europe is more than a political slogan. Europe is a way of life, a dream that must come true and it is the chance for our people to live in peace, tranquility and plenty”.
More than 75,000 people participated in the demonstration in Chişinău, where a resolution was adopted confirming the citizens’ support for the country’s European path.
(Ștefan Stoica)
