Moldova on the Road to the European Union: Looking East or West?

Year 2022, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 93 - 114, 30.04.2022

Shideh Ghanbarı

Abstract

With the end of the Cold War, the European Community (later the European Union (EU)) faced new geopolitical challenges. These geopolitical challenges had implications for continental Europe’s security. One of the most important challenges is the independence of the Eastern European countries that were previously members of the Soviet Union. Considering these factors, Moldova’s geopolitical relevance has grown due to its position as the European Union’s eastern border neighbour with the rest of the globe. Since gaining its independence in 1991, Moldova has collaborated with the European Union under the new European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) in 2004 and also in the Eastern Partnership Program (EaP) in 2009. The aim of these collaborations was to significantly improve relations between the EU and Moldova and to support the reform process in Moldova. In keeping with these principles, Moldova has undergone considerable institutional reforms to bring it closer to European norms. On the one hand, the ENP is widely regarded as one of the EU’s most effective tools for forging reconciliation with its Eastern neighbours. On the other hand, this policy can be expressed as a way of motivating member states to integrate with Europe without membership. In this study, considering the effect of Europeanization and the implementation of the socialisation movement, it is sought to answer the questions of how the implementation of the ENP and especially the EaP in Moldova affected the political development of this country and how successfully the EU achieved this partnership. As a result, it may be stated as a hypothesis of the study that the ENP, through the concepts of conditionality and socialisation, has put pressure on Moldova to conduct political changes. Furthermore, these measures had only a little influence on Moldova. For this purpose, it employed the Europeanization approach to test the article’s hypothesis and get a better understanding of Moldova’s internal changes. When the effect of Europeanization and socialisation as a measure of EU neighbourhood policy is examined, the relationship between the variables, it is concluded that through conditionality and socialisation, ENP and EaP have not any significant impact on the functioning of the Moldovan government, the electoral process, corruption, civil liberties, and human rights. Moreover, when socialisation is analysed in the context of Europeanization, it is seen that it has not yet led to Moldova’s socio-political development, and most of the evidence shows that Moldova lags behind in approximating its laws to EU norms and standards.

Keywords

European Union, European Neighborhood Policy, Moldova, Europeanization, Socialization, Eastern Partnership Program

Moldova ve AB'nin Komşuluk Politikası: İnişli Çıkışlı Bir Ortaklık

Abstract

Moldova'nın Avrupa Birliği ile dış dünya arasındaki doğu sınır komşusu olması, bu küçük ülkenin jeopolitik önemini artırmıştır. AB ile Moldova arasındaki işbirliği, ülkenin 2009 yılında bağımsızlığını kazanmasının ardından AB standartlarına uyum yönünde başlamıştır. Moldova ve AB arasındaki bağlantı, Avrupa Komşuluk Politikası (AKP) ve Doğu Ortaklığı Girişimi (DOG) kapsamında bir işbirliği anlaşmasının imzalanmasıyla sonuçlanmıştır. Ayrıca, bu politikalar doğrultusunda Moldova, kurumsal yapısında Avrupa standartlarına yaklaşmak amacıyla büyük reformlar gerçekleştirmiştir. Bu önlemler, AB’nin Doğu Komşularında yakınlaşmayı teşvik eden en önemli araçlardan biri olmakla birlikte, aynı zamanda Avrupa Komşuluk Politikası'nın kalkınma olmadan yeni bir entegrasyon modeli oluşturmasının da ana nedeni olarak bilinmektedir. AB ile Moldova arasındaki serbest ticaret ve işbirliği anlaşması, AB'nin Moldova'ya yönelik sınır yardım misyonu ve vizesiz rejim, iki taraf arasındaki ilişkilerin genişlemesini hızlandırdığı varsayılabilir. AB’nin komşuluk politikası koşulluluk ilkesi ve sosyalleşme ilkesi biçiminde, Moldova'da siyasi reform ve bölgesel gerilimler için baskılara yol açmıştır. Bu amaçla, bu makalenin hipotezini test etmek için ve Moldova'nın içsel değişimleri ve gelişimini anlamak için sosyalleşme teorisinden faydalanmıştır. Avrupalılaşma ve sosyalleşmenin AB komşuluk politikasının bir ölçüsü olarak etkisini incelendiğinde, değişkenler arasındaki ilişki, Avrupa komşuluk politikasının koşulluluk ve sosyalleşme yoluyla hükümetin işleyişi, seçim süreci, yolsuzluk, sivil özgürlükler ve insan hakları üzerinde herhangi bir etkisi olmadığı gösterilmiştir. Üstelik, sosyalleşmeyi Avrupalılaşma bağlamında incelendiğinde, bu dalların henüz Moldova'nın sosyo-politik gelişimine yol açmadığı görülmekte ve Moldova'nın çeşitli nedenlerle henüz AB'ye doğru ilerlemeye hazır olmadığı kanıtlanmaktadır.

Keywords

AB, Avrupa Komşuluk Politikası, Moldova, Avrupalılaşma, Doğu Ortaklığı Girişimi.

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