EU officially deploys mission to Moldova

On May 22, the Council of the European Union (EU) announced that it had officially deployed a civil security assistance mission to Moldova, a country that has been granted candidate status to join the EU since June 2022.

The mission's objective, the statement said, "is to contribute to strengthening the crisis management structure in Moldova, increasing resilience to hybrid threats, including cyber security, and countering foreign interference and manipulation of information." In addition, the EU mission will engage in "strategic advice and identify needs for capacity building."

Moldova officially applied to join the EU in March 2022 and hopes to speed up the process. At the Brussels summit on June 23 last year, the EU approved Moldova and Ukraine as candidate countries. The European Commission then outlined nine conditions that Moldova must meet to be admitted.

On April 24, the EU Foreign Ministers’ Conference approved the decision to send a civilian mission to Moldova. According to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, this is part of the EU’s common security and defense policy.

On May 21, European Parliament (EP) member Siegfried Muresan said that Moldova could become part of the EU before 2030, although there is still a lot of work to be done.

VNA

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