European Parliament backs closer EU-Moldova ties

(BRUSSELS) - The European Parliament on Thursday backed closer political and economic ties between the European Union and the former Soviet republic of Moldova, echoing a deal with Ukraine that has raised EU-Russia tensions.

The parliament said in a statement that the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, which includes a free trade deal, also applied to the pro-Moscow breakaway region of Transdniestr.

Transdniestr is a strip of land bordering Ukraine, which broke away from Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a brief civil war the following year.

It has never been recognised as an independent state by any United Nations member.

Members of the European Parliament "call on Russia to fully respect Moldova's territorial integrity and European choice," the parliamentary statement said.

"They also deplore Russia's continued use of trade import bans on products from Moldova as a means to destabilise the region and back initiatives to counter the Russian embargo on Moldovan products," it added.

The European Parliament said it will send a delegation to Moldova to observe legislative elections there on November 30.

The parliament said it voted by 529 votes to 96 -- with 46 abstentions -- for the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, which includes a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.

The deal's ratification is "clear acknowledgement of the success of Moldova's political and economic reform process," Lithuanian MEP Petras Austrevicius was quoted as saying.

The reform process "establishes its European prospects and bears witness to its determination eventually to join the EU," he said, according to the statement.

Moldova ratified the agreement on July 2 after the deal was signed by Moldova and the EU in June. For it to enter force, it has to be ratified by all 28 EU member states' parliaments.

However, parts of the deal, including the free trade provisions, took temporary effect on September 1.

In June, the European Union and Ukraine also signed a political and economic association agreement whose rejection by former pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych in 2013 sparked the Ukraine crisis. Moscow rejects the accord.