Moldova is the European country, after Poland, which has made the most remarkable effort to welcome Ukrainian refugees. This poor state of nearly 3 million inhabitants, long neglected on the periphery of the European Union (EU), is today the subject of unprecedented attention from Brussels and Washington. The official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, to the United States, which ended on Tuesday April 19, was proof of this. In an interview at Worldthe minister, a perfect French-speaker, explains how his country wants to anchor itself in a European perspective.
You were received on April 18 by the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. How do you judge the Western support given to Moldova?
Russian aggression against Ukraine is accelerating and crystallizing the positions of all those concerned about security in Europe. To keep Moldova stable and committed to reform, our dialogue has been intensified, both with Washington and the EU. Our goal is EU membership. With the United States, we have an interaction process structured around three working groups: economy and energy, politics and security dialogue, and finally the fight against corruption and the rule of law.
How do you manage to manage the wave of Ukrainian refugees?
Nearly 400,000 passed through our territory. The number of refugees today in Moldova is nearly 100,000, or 3.5% of the population. Imagine that on a French scale, it’s as if 2 million or 3 million people arrived in a handful of weeks. It is unprecedented. Half of the refugees are minors. Can you imagine the effort this represents for our education and health systems? More than 90% of them were welcomed by families, volunteers or relatives, in apartments or houses. The welcome was therefore dignified. We don’t have tent camps.
How do you deal with Russian disinformation campaigns portraying refugees as criminals?
On social networks, there are anti-refugee discourses that are growing. But Moldova has been targeted by disinformation operations for years. Despite this, voters made a firm choice by electing as president [proeuropéenne et réformiste] Maia Sandu. Before the war, Russian television was quite present. These channels are still functioning, but since the beginning of the war, news broadcasts and debates in Russian have been suspended.
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