Minister [of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Deputy Prime Minister, Nicu] Popescu, dear friend, Minister [Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ana] Revenco, Head of Mission, Ambassadors, distinguished guests and colleagues, I am very happy today to be here, in Chisinau, to celebrate the official inauguration of the European Union Partnership Mission in Moldova. Thank you for allocating this fantastic building to the mission.  

You know that Moldova is one of the countries most directly affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Everybody is being affected – mostly the Ukrainians, and Moldovans also. In addition, Russia is trying to destabilise Moldova, with interference and with hybrid actions. 

I am here to send a clear message: Moldova is not alone.  You are our strategic partner. You are a future European Union member.  Today, the deployment of this mission is another important political sign of the European Union’s support in these current difficult circumstances.  

This mission will join another 12 [EU] civilian missions around the world. Here, we have the head of these missions – all of them [Stefano Tomat]. I know how complicated it is to manage 12 civilian missions all around the world. This will be another one, a very important one.  A very important one because here, in Moldova, we are facing real challenges, and that is why this mission is an innovative mission, based on three pillars. 

First, it has to contribute to strengthening the crisis management capacities of the security sector of Moldova. We all have been impressed by the solidarity that Moldova has shown with the refugees fleeing Ukraine. I was here in the first days when the war started [and] I witnessed this solidarity with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing and escaping Ukraine. I was also impressed by the professionalism of your services in managing it.  So, congratulations to the Minister of Internal Affairs [Ana Revenco]. This mission will also provide a further strategic and operational support to prepare you better for future crises. 

Secondly, the mission will assist in enhancing resilience to face hybrid threats - especially cybersecurity - and countering foreign information manipulation and interference, which is a danger that is growing and growing everywhere and putting our democracies at risk. This will require developing strategies and policies, identifying the necessary capacity building for early warning, detection, attribution of threats, and effective response to them. 

And finally, thirdly, the mission will have a project cell offering targeted operational support to help Moldova respond in both areas.  

Overall, the aim of the mission is to strengthen Moldova’s resilience. And once again, I am very pleased to be here with the EU Civilian Operation Commander, Stefano Tomat - please, Stefano, take a lot of care of this mission - and to introduce the Head of Mission, Ambassador Cosmin Dinescu.  

We are here with an initial team of 15 people [as] staff. This team will grow to at least 40 staff in the coming weeks. I want to thank all [those] who worked to put this mission in place, in a very short time. The deployment of this new civilian mission is part of our strong commitment to work hand in hand with Moldova on comprehensive cooperation on security and defence. Defence is not just the military [side], it is also the civilian side.

But also, the European Peace Facility (EPF) will be providing €87 million of non-lethal support to enhance national security, stability and resilience in the defence sector. I want to stress that it is non-lethal arms. It is non-lethal support, but you know, an army needs a lot of logistics, a lot of organisation. It needs a lot of things which are not arms and this will be provided by this €87 million of support. 

Allow me to say something that I think is important and interesting. Last month, we established a new sanctions regime to target people involved in trying to destabilise this country. Yesterday, we sanctioned the first group of individuals. They are Moldovan and Russian politicians and businessmen, linked to this famous “Bank Fraud” case, which resulted in huge losses for the Moldovan budget, such as Ilan Shor, or Vladimir Plahotniuc, or the parliamentarian Marina Tauber. Others, like Gheorghe Cavcaliuc or Igor Chaika, that are linked to efforts orchestrated by the Kremlin to destabilise Moldova through, for instance, the planning of violent demonstrations, by financial misconduct, unauthorised exports of capital, and support to the Russian Federal Security Service. 

This is the first time that we make use of this dedicated sanctions regime for Moldova. But this list is not final. We are ready to use this new [sanctions] regime any time again when we see attempts to destabilise Moldova economically or politically. 

Ultimately, the European Union presence in Moldova is driven by a shared goal: to ensure peace, to ensure security and stability of both the citizens of Moldova and the citizens of the European Union, because we are facing the same challenges. 

And by making you stronger, by making Moldova stronger, we make also the European Union stronger. So, you can count on our support. We are [all] in the same boat. 

Thank you.