MOLDOVAN COMMITTEE FOR UNITY AND WELFARE

Appeal to grant Ukraine candidate status to European Union membership

H.E. Mr Charles Michel

President of the European Council

H.E. Ms Ursula von der Leyen

President of the European Commission

H.E. Roberta Metsola

President of the European Parliament

We, signatories of the Appeal are addressing you with the request to grant Ukraine, as a matter of priority, the status of a country - candidate in the process of accession to the European Union.

We call on the European Union to accept Ukraine’s request to receive an accession status. Since you and many other political leaders of the European Union have an outstanding influence on the outcome of the examination process, we urge you to address this request with all necessary attention and visionary leadership. By accepting Ukraine to advance towards European Accession you can send a historic signal to Ukraine, very much expected in the trenches of war-torn regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, in Odessa and Liviv, where the brave Ukrainian citizens are defending their country, defending Europe from Russian aggression.

Ukraine is going through a dramatic experience, which make us share with Ukrainians their pain and resistance against foreign aggression.

We, representatives of the civil society of Moldova, declare our sincere sense of solidarity with Ukrainians’ will to advance towards EU accession and plead with you to grant to Ukraine as a priority measure the status requested by President Volodymir Zelenski. We are firmly convinced that your righteous decision will send an extraordinarily strong political and moral signal to the Ukrainians. This is the only correct way for the European Union to end a long-standing divide between Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, thus, responding with full maturity to the shared ideals of peace, freedom, democracy and legitimacy aspired to by Ukrainian citizens.

We, in Moldova, deplore the brutal and abject atrocities of this war in Ukraine and strongly condemn Russian aggression, unprovoked and unjustified by any sort of goals. For more than 100 days that have passed since the beginning of the war (24 February 2022), Ukrainians have been fighting heroically against the aggressor which brought mass destruction and genocide to the people of Ukraine. We deplore violation of the fundamental international laws and norms of war. We are horrified by the cruelty of the aggressor state and the intensity of the destruction caused by the war in Ukraine. In this situation, Ukraine needs all the support that the free nations of the European Union are obliged to provide, and the most important support is the hope for a prospect of joining the benefits of European civilization. Millions of Ukrainians will welcome with joy and confidence the launch of the accession to the EU long-standing process, which will positively influence Ukraine’s determination to complete full liberation of their sovereign territory from armies.

Ukraine cannot be left without hope. The Ukrainian people cannot be defeated. Ukrainian citizens cannot become enslaved in their own home, in Ukraine, nor can they become prisoners without the hope of being part of the European family that needs Ukraine.

We, representatives of civil society from the Republic of Moldova, on the platform of the Committee for Unity and Welfare, call on your Excellencies to ask you to reward the sacrifice of our Ukrainian neighbours to its authentic value because their sacrifice is the price paid for freedom and democracy. It is the price that the peoples of Europe paid after the disaster of World War II, and it is the advance payment for a safer, better, more dignified future for the European continent, for all the peoples enjoying the privilege of well-being, peace, safety and trust in tomorrow.

The Committee for Unity and Welfare welcomes the reforms initiated by Ukraine before the start of this terrible war and is convinced that Ukraine will demonstrate the fulfilment of Copenhagen criteria and the obligations it will assume as soon as it is recognised as a candidate state for pre-accession to the European Union, having a courageous political class, tested by the fire of the fight for freedom and determined to the highest degree to take the necessary steps to accelerate the post-war reforms towards the Europeanization and Westernization of Ukraine, by decentralizing and streamlining the administrative system, reforming public finances, making the decision-making process more transparent, digitizing public services, reforming justice and eradicating corruption.

We appreciate the overwhelming support (of over 91%) of the Ukrainian citizens for the desideratum of the European integration, which confirms the exceptional potential of the Ukrainian society in the project of pre-accession to the European Union and it capacity to carry out the key reforms launched in 2014, with the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, despite all the obstacles and external military pressures from Russia, but also of groups of oligarchs manipulated by the Russian secret services and obscure interests. We urge the leaders of Ukraine and civil society in all European states to give their full support to recognise the extraordinary heroism of the people of Ukraine at this time, as a living expression of their will to be part of the great family of European nations, contributing with their energy and thirst for freedom to the development of the European Union's global project in a competitive and unpredictable world.

We, the signatories of this call, urge you to invest confidence in the recognition of the status of candidate country to Ukraine, as well as with other states that also aspire to this status (Moldova and Georgia), as an act of supreme solidarity on the part of the European public, which recognises the potential of these countries, strategically encourages it and strongly opposes the ambition of the aggressor to dominate other nations through unprecedented acts of violence and cruelty. By supporting Ukraine's European candidacy, the EU will set a valuable historical precedent for European enlargement in the Eastern direction, which will open opportunities for economic prosperity and security guarantees for the entire region, including Moldova and Georgia.

At the same time, we feel entitled to asking the authorities of the three countries - Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova - to strengthen their strategic cooperation through concrete actions, to prove authentic adherence to European values through sincere solidarity steps, at the level of the challenges that Ukraine is facing today. We are convinced that solidarity and mutual support is in the interests of the three countries and supports an inevitable European future, which is now decided on Ukrainian soil. Ukraine must be part of the European Union based on our internal effort and our love for freedom. We believe in Ukraine's victory over the aggressor state and are convinced that this victory will be a great triumph of freedom against totalitarianism and of life over death.

Chisinau, 26 May 2022

Signatories:

Valentina Casian, Mayor of Straseni Municipality

Sergiu Musteață, Dr, University Professor, History

Anatol Țăranu, Dr, University Professor, History, Former Ambassador to Russia

Igor Munteanu, Dr, University Professor, Former Ambassador to USA

Cristina Țărnă, Attorney, Anticorruption Expert

Aurelia Peru, Dr, University Professor, Communication

Veaceslav Ioniță, Dr, University Professor, Economics

Sergiu Cornea, Dr, University Professor, Rector of Cahul State University „H.P.Hasdeu”

Igor Klipii, MA, Political Sciences, Former Ambassador to Lithuania

Eduard Bulgac, MA, Business and Management, Entrepreneur

Vitalie Ponomariov, Dr, University Professor, History

Ion Marina, Dr, Medical Sciences

Tudor Golub, Dr of History, MA in Business and Management

Marin Ciobanu, MA in Business and Engineering, Entrepreneur

Email: comitet.unitate@gmail.com