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Gleb's avatar

That’s a great read, thank you! Do you have any plans to write a post on the ongoing reforms required for EU integration, and how successful or unsuccessful they have been?

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David Smith's avatar

Hi Gleb! In a sense, I do that almost every week :) The primary hurdle for Moldova in the EU accession process is related to justice reform. Almost everything else is in the "important but not disqualifying" category. Every ministry has to implement around 3-5 years of normal work each year from here until 2028 in order to align their departments with EU regulation. But delays on particular areas can be negotiated on many issues - justice is the big exception.

If you're interested in any specific area (food safety, transit, customs, taxes, etc) let me know and I'll consider a piece on it in the future. But I try and keep the main areas of reform front and center in the newsletter already.

Also - I think it will be just as interesting to see whether or not the EU itself can implement some reforms in the next few years. I think that is almost as critical to the accession of Moldova and Ukraine as internal reforms are. We shall see...

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Gleb's avatar

A new reader here, looking forward to future articles! I’d say I’m interested in reforms in a broader sense, mainly those that would lead, directly or indirectly, to economic growth and a reduction in corruption. What would you say are the main hurdles to justice reform?

What reforms do you think the EU needs to implement? Are they related to bloc expansion, or to the broader changing geopolitical landscape and economic stagnation?

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David Smith's avatar

Hi Gleb - a big welcome then! Here are a few articles to check out:

Justice reform:

https://www.moldovamatters.md/p/perspective-justice-reform-and-paths?utm_source=publication-search

Economic Reform:

https://www.moldovamatters.md/p/explainer-understanding-reform

https://www.moldovamatters.md/p/explainer-the-role-of-small-business

https://www.moldovamatters.md/p/explainer-salaries-taxes-and-migration

https://www.moldovamatters.md/p/moldovas-green-turn

Those are just a few that I think are worth checking out. Generally, you can peruse the Analysis and Perspective sections to find a number of similar articles that hold up well (in my humble opinion).

As to the EU, I would refer to both. Primarily I was thinking of new decision making mechanisms related to expansion. This isn't simply about faster accession, but about mitigating the risk of adding small countries. No one wants another Hungary.

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Gleb's avatar

Thanks, David!

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