EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in Chişinău on Thursday that the EU would push ahead with Moldova’s path towards membership and that the breakaway Transnistria region would not block the country’s “European future.”
Kallas, who is the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, spoke alongside Moldova’s President Maia Sandu on the eve of Europe Day, celebrated on 9 May, the European External Action Service (EEAS) informed on Friday.
The EU will hold its second EU–Moldova summit in Brussels “soon”, she said, without giving a date.
Kallas also referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying nearly 30 people were killed in Russian strikes on Tuesday.
She criticised what she called a Russian offer of a ceasefire linked to a military parade in Moscow, while saying Ukraine had offered “real ceasefires.”
EU support: radar system and more security funding
A new EU-funded radar system has arrived in Moldova and will help detect Russian drones, Kallas said.
She also said the EU was strengthening Moldova’s air defences as Russian drones violate Moldovan airspace.
The EU has already provided €200 million in assistance through the European Peace Facility — an EU fund used to support partners’ defence and security.
Kallas added that she would propose doubling European Peace Facility funding for Moldova to €120 million a year, which she said would be the largest such measure for any beneficiary country after Ukraine.
Kallas also said the EU had mobilised help after pollution of the Dniester River following a Russian attack, including support to provide safe drinking water.
She said European neighbours supplied electricity after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure in March.
Asked about the timing of EU accession talks, Kallas said the EU needed to move “as fast as we can” but that she could not give a concrete deadline.
She also said EU foreign ministers would discuss a list of demands for Russia at the end of May, including the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria.
