Moldova's leader backs firm pro-Europe stance

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• published: 03 Aug 2015
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Despite protests from Moscow and only partial support among his own people, Moldova's prime minister said on Tuesday he believes his firm pro-European stance will benefit the country's relations with both the West and Russia in the long term. In an interview with The Associated Press, Iurie Leanca called European integration the "most efficient instrument in modernising the country," a poor, former Soviet republic of four million sandwiched between much-larger Romania and Ukraine. He said the tragic developments in Ukraine directly affect Moldova and "its security, its trade, especially with our traditional partners in the East". Ukraine saw mass protests and its former president toppled after he abruptly pulled out of a similar EU agreement in November. Leanca said his government had been clear that it intended to move closer to the EU ever since it came to power in 2009, unlike the former government in Ukraine. "When you show hesitation, when you show a certain confusion on what you want to achieve," it can have a detrimental effect, Leanca said. Moving closer to the EU - which about half of Moldovans favour - is the best solution for the country's future, Leanca said. With average salaries of just 220 euros (300 US dollars) a month, some 600,000 Moldovans now work abroad, half in the EU and half in Russia. Leanca, a former foreign minister, said his government was concerned, but also optimistic about the frozen conflict in the pro-Russian separatist region of Trans-Dniester, which broke away from Moldova in 1990 over fears that Moldova planned to reunite with Romania. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/66a245edfae38a0116bb2d3b92459cee Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork