The European Commission said it will ask EU member states and the European Parliament to amend Autonomous Trade Preferences so that the EU imports of Moldovan wines becomes completely liberalised without waiting for the provisional application of the Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). The European Commission said it will ask the Council and Parliament to do their utmost for a speedy adoption of this modification.
Moldova, which is part of the EU Eastern Partnership, is due to initial an Association Agreement with the EU, which includes a free trade agreement, in Vilnius in November. Sources in Chisinau said on 24 September that Moldova hopes to sign the Association Agreement during the Greek rotating EU Presidency in the first half of 2014.
Moldova can currently export 240,000 hectolitres of wine a year to the EU. Wine is the country’s biggest export and the country ranks 11th in the world in terms of exports by volume.
The proposal comes just two weeks after Russia, Moldova’s largest single foreign trade partner, banned Moldovan wine imports, citing health concerns. Observers interpreted the move, however, as direct pressure on Chisinau to dissuade Moldovan authorities from signing the association agreement with the EU.
Sources point out, however, that the EU as a whole is a much larger importer of Moldovan wines than Russia. In the early days after Moldova’s independence, Chisinau relied almost exclusively on the Russian market for exporting its wines.
“The European Union’s market is a sustainable alternative and a viable pole of stability for the Moldovan wine sector. A fully opened EU market for Moldovan wines in a time when Moldovan farmers are in difficulty, reflects that, beyond being a very successful economic integration project, the EU is also a space of solidarity,” European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos said in the statement.
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