# CE2004078EN.01034401.xml

| 27.3.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 78/344 |
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27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 78/344

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(2004/C 78 E/0363)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0684/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(11 March 2002)

Subject:   Moldova — the poorest country in Europe — and the striking difference in its treatment by the EU in comparison with the Baltic States

Subject:

| 1. | Can the Commission confirm that Moldova, which lies between Romania and Ukraine and has a population of more than 4 million, is now the poorest country in Europe, as evidenced ‘inter alia’ by the fact that wages there are between four and seven times lower than in Romania, every child is born with a statistical State debt of USD 600, 70 % of the State budget has to be spent on redeeming foreign debt incurred through the purchase of natural gas, many hospitals are closed and the remainder no longer have heating or medicines; gas, electricity and water supplies have virtually ceased in rural areas; roads are no longer passable for vehicles and, on account of poverty, thousands of people have sold one of their kidneys for transplantation in Turkey? |
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1.

Can the Commission confirm that Moldova, which lies between Romania and Ukraine and has a population of more than 4 million, is now the poorest country in Europe, as evidenced ‘inter alia’ by the fact that wages there are between four and seven times lower than in Romania, every child is born with a statistical State debt of USD 600, 70 % of the State budget has to be spent on redeeming foreign debt incurred through the purchase of natural gas, many hospitals are closed and the remainder no longer have heating or medicines; gas, electricity and water supplies have virtually ceased in rural areas; roads are no longer passable for vehicles and, on account of poverty, thousands of people have sold one of their kidneys for transplantation in Turkey?

| 2. | Is there an agreement between the EU and the Russian Federation and/or Ukraine which obliges the EU not to concern itself with the future or the economic development of Moldova or with human rights there? |
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2.

Is there an agreement between the EU and the Russian Federation and/or Ukraine which obliges the EU not to concern itself with the future or the economic development of Moldova or with human rights there?

| 3. | Since the mid-1990s, has the Commission discouraged Moldova from applying for membership of the EU or seeking other forms of rapprochement to it? Is this a punishment for Moldova's failure, so far, to merge with the candidate country Romania again, a possibility which has been under discussion since the early 1990s? |
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3.

Since the mid-1990s, has the Commission discouraged Moldova from applying for membership of the EU or seeking other forms of rapprochement to it? Is this a punishment for Moldova's failure, so far, to merge with the candidate country Romania again, a possibility which has been under discussion since the early 1990s?

| 4. | Why is the EU treating Moldova — a territory which was detached from Romania on 28 June 1940 — differently from other small States, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were likewise incorporated into the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Second World War on the basis of an agreement between Hitler and Stalin and which, since independence, have been treated as candidates for accession to the EU, with the prospect of accession in 2004? Does the difference in these countries' importance to the economies of the present Member States have anything to do with it? |
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4.

Why is the EU treating Moldova — a territory which was detached from Romania on 28 June 1940 — differently from other small States, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were likewise incorporated into the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Second World War on the basis of an agreement between Hitler and Stalin and which, since independence, have been treated as candidates for accession to the EU, with the prospect of accession in 2004? Does the difference in these countries' importance to the economies of the present Member States have anything to do with it?

Source: De Volkskrant, 31 December 2001 and 25 February 2002.

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