Moldova May Become Member of Eurasian Economic Union

MINSK (Sputnik) – The president pointed out that such a decision may be taken only by the Moldovan people.

“I do not rule out that one day we will become a EAEU member. I believe that would be right for Moldova,” Dodon told the Belarus 1 broadcaster in an interview issued on Tuesday.

“We will hold a referendum when the time is right, people will say how they see their future,” Dodon said.

He said that if the referendum was held tomorrow, the majority of Moldovan citizens would vote for joining the EAEU.

From Dodon’s point of view, Moldova should return to the markets of EAEU countries, which will allow creating hundreds of thousands jobs.

The president also called on the western countries not to make Moldova choose between cooperation with the West and the East.

“Ukraine faced the choice: either [with the European Union] or [with the EAEU] and what happened? A disaster. That is why there must be a balanced foreign policy.  Let it be an [Association] agreement with Europe but if the free trade becomes an obstacle, it should be replaced with the symmetrical trade. That will allow us signing a free trade agreement with the EAEU,” Dodon said.

In March, Dodon signed a memorandum of cooperation with the EAEU. During the talks with Putin in January, the Moldovan president expressed interest in Moldova participating in the EAEU as an observer. He stressed that Moldovan-EU Association Agreement had failed to meet the expectations and led to the loss of the country's share on the Russian market and the drop in exports volume to the European Union.

The Eurasian Economic Union is aimed at developing intraregional economic ties and establishing the free flow of goods among its members: Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia.