THE ROLE OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY IN THE EUROPEANISATION OF MOLDOVA

ASSESSING THE EU’S ACTORNESS IN THE EASTERN NEIGHBOURHOOD • EURINT 2021 | 56 THE ROLE OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY IN THE EUROPEANISATION OF MOLDOVA Rodica CRUDU*, Mariana ZUBENSCHI**, Carmen NASTASE*** Abstract The topicality of the neighborhood Europeanization through ENP is undoubtful, particularly due to the fact that the Republic of Moldova has taken a claimable European integration direction and is striving to fulfill the requirements stipulated in the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. The paper aims to provide an overview of both the theoretical aspects by defining and explaining the concept of Europeanization and the background of ENP and how these concepts are practically realized in the attempt to achieve the Europeanization of the Republic of Moldova and understand what bottlenecks should be tackled in order to make a better use of this policy in its pursuit of the European goal. A special attention is allocated to the assessment of the citizen perceptions about EU in general and EUMoldova relations in particular, common beliefs that have been created among citizens with reference to the EU and the role of the EU as a key player in the Eastern Neighbourhood in general and Europeanisation of the Republic of Moldova. A survey was applied on 173 respondents. Results show that in general Moldovan citizens have a positive belief about the EU, are aware about the EU financial support Moldova received so far and consider EU as a reliable partner from which Moldova has a lot to learn in terms of democracy, law supremacy, human rights and economic development. Keywords: European Neighbourhood Policy, Europeanisation, citizens perceptions, European integration Introduction European integration in the Eastern Neighbourhood has focused mostly in providing means for discussions and problem solving in trade, economic strategy, * Rodica CRUDU is associate professor at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, e-mail: , ORCID ID 0000-0002-6470-8601. ** Mariana ZUBENSCHI is lecturer at Ion Creangă State Pedagogical University, e-mail: , ORCID ID 0000-0002-4890-2068. *** Carmen NASTASE is professor at Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, e-mail: . Rodica CRUDU, Mariana ZUBENSCHI, Carmen NASTASE | 57 travel agreements, and other issues between the EU and its neighbours. It also aims at building a common area of shared democracy, prosperity, stability, and increased cooperation. The studies in the field of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and Europeanisation of neighbouring countries have mostly focused on European governance, diffusion of Acquis Communautaire and the rules at its periphery (Schimmelfennig, 2010; Lightfoot, 2010; Börzel and Risse, 2012; Delcour, 2013; Langbein and Börzel, 2013; etc.). To a large extent, the EU actorness is accompanied by the EU conditionality or „external persuasion” towards these states (Kubicek, 2003; Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier, 2004; Barbulescu, 2009). Puente (2014) distinguishes between positive and negative conditionality. The positive conditionality is carried out by encouraging beneficiaries to achieve specific economic goals and political objectives, especially by highlighting various benefits, releases and advantages. On the contrary, the negative conditionality is materialized in such “maneuvers” as restrictions, deferrals, suspension of negotiations, etc. that are applied to change the behaviour of the policy-makers towards needed policy adjustments and reforms (Puente, 2014, p. 59). The policy of conditionality began to be more often used especially with the declaration of European aspirations of the Central and Eastern European countries. This conditionality can be delicately found in the text of the partnership and cooperation or association agreements of these states, but also several meetings, dialogues and negotiations with EU officials, that intend to help the candidate countries, to smoothen the transition towards the implementation of common rules, values and principles (Scaunas, 2005, p. 199) and, at a later stage, to assure the access to the single European market and activities of European structures (Morari, 2016). Undoubtedly these aspects matter, hence for a better understanding of the performance and effectiveness of the EU assistance and collaboration programs and policies in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, several qualitative studies were realized (Timuș, 2016; Lahusen and Kiess, 2019; EU Neighbours East, 2020). These studies tend to investigate the citizens’ perceptions of these countries regarding the economic development of the country in the region (Toader and Radu, 2019) or the citizens perceptions towards the EU image, actorness and the effectiveness of EU support programs (Batory, 2020; EU Neighbours East, 2020). Most of these investigations rely on the analysis of the level of information and the common beliefs of the citizens from Central and Eastern Europe countries about the EU in general and EU-funded cooperation and development programmes/projects, in particular. However, less focus is oriented towards identifying the bottlenecks that should be tackled in order to make a better use of the ENP and acquis communautaire in their pursuit of the European aspirations. Since 1994, the domestic and foreign policy agenda of the Republic of Moldova has been shaped by the European integration aspirations, followed by ENP (since 2004), EaP framework (since 2009) and association agreement (AA) (since 2014). The topicality of the neighbourhood Europeanization through ENP is undoubtful, particularly due to the fact that the Republic of Moldova has taken a claimable European integration direction and is striving to fulfil the requirements 58 | THE ROLE OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY stipulated in the EU-Moldova Association Agreement to qualify as a candidate state. Therefore, this paper presents the connection between the country’s leading political elite and the image, common beliefs that have been created among citizens with reference to the EU and the role of the EU as a key player in the Eastern Neighbourhood. A special attention is allocated to the assessment, through the citizen perceptions of the EU-Moldova relations in general and the awareness, performance and effectiveness of EU assistance programs, towards fostering the Europeanisation of the Republic of Moldova, in particular. Understanding citizens perceptions is very important, as a better understanding can be transposed into more effective cooperation strategies and tailor-made development programs or policies. In order to achieve the stated objectives, the present paper aims to analyse the approach of the Europeanization process, as well as underline the assistance the Republic of Moldova has benefited from EU so far and how our country can benefit more from ENP to achieve its EU accession goal. In this context, the present research provides an overview of both the theore (...truncated)