While Moldavan President Igor Dodon continues improving ties with Russia, opposition party quietly dropped one of their main campaign promise – visaless travel with EU
The decision comes in light of EU’s introduction of ETIAS: European Travel Information and Authorisation System. The program will allow participants to register electornically and pay a fee for processing, with the decision on whther the entry will be denied or approved coming three days later.
“It’s not exactly news. The European Comission has been working on it since 2008” says LIBE comission Michael Boni
“The main purpose of ETIAS is to gather information on eligibility of foreign citizens to travel in EU and additional security concideration amid growing risk of terror attacks.” he added.
Austrian newspaper Die Press reports that this is just the beginning of the system’s introduction: European Council and European Parliament are currently formulating the application process and developing a questionnaire for applicants. In practice, ETIAS is simply a replacement for tourism visas under a diffrent name.
The Moldovan opposition has been hit hard by these news: Support for the opposition mainliners Plahotniuc and Filip has dropped conciderably when the information went public.