Moldova is a member of the Eastern Partnership from 2009, along with other five former Soviet Union countries (Armenia , Azerbaijan , Belarus , Georgia and Ukraine).
As a result of this partnership , the Republic of Moldova can benefit from the new association agreements, including FTA (free-trade area) , gradual integration in the EU economy and travel facilitation to the European space through gradual visa liberalization , accompanied by measures to fight against illegal migration. Negotiations on the Association Agreement began in 2010 and were completed earlier this year . Association Agreement with the EU is actually required to create cooperation in areas such as security policy , trade and culture. Initialling this document , on November 28-29 in Vilnius , marked a new stage in EU- Moldova relations.
After the initialling of Association Agreement, lawyers, translators and experts will review the text of the Agreement to ensure that there are no uncertainty . The text is then translated into the official languages of all EU Member States (28 countries-24 languages). This process takes about six months .
Once this stage is completed, the further decision is taken by the European Council , which represents EU member states . This decision is expected to be taken by the autumn of 2014. Once approved, the agreement will be formally signed by the Republic of Moldova and the EU.
The final stage of the process is known as ratification : after signing the Association Agreement, it must be ratified by the Parliament of Republic of Moldova, the parliaments of the 28 member states and the European Parliament, before entering into force .
