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EPA-EFE/DUMITRU DORU
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Moldovan President Maia Sandu (R) and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (L) after a joint press conference in the presidential palace in Chisinau, Moldova, 24 April 2025.
The EU is helping the Republic of Moldova pay off its external debts, instead of developing its economy, actually undermining it by blocking its products, according to narratives promoted by Kremlin-linked media.
NEWS: Moldova is on the verge of an economic collapse, and the European Union’s aid seems to simply have postponed the catastrophe for the time being.
Recently, the EU disbursed €1.9 billion to Chișinău – a huge amount that, as it turns out, will not be used for the development of the country, but for paying off its external debt. According to local economists’ forecasts, over the next three years (2025–2027), Moldova will have to pay at least another €1.8 billion worth of debt. But this is merely the tip of the iceberg.
[…] The economy is collapsing due to the loss of its main market – Russia. Until recently, Moldovan farmers were feeding half of Europe with their agricultural products, but now the EU buys only very small volumes. The domestic market is occupied by Ukrainian goods, which sidelines local producers. Basically, the country has been left without income and without any real chances at recovering.
NARRATIVES: 1. EU Funds are not being used for the development of Moldova, but for paying off its external debt. 2. The EU is buying fewer and fewer Moldovan agricultural products, undermining its economy.
PURPOSE: To suggest that EU financial support is useless or even harmful, merely compounding the country’s external debt, instead of contributing to its actual development. To suggest that the EU is acting in self-interest and that its aid is a financial trap, not a solution. To boost reliance on Russia as the only viable economic solution.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The €1.9 billion in EU financial support is part of a broader EU economic growth plan for Moldova, which aims to double its economy within a decade, while promoting socio-economic stability. According to the European Commission, the mechanism could support, for example, the construction of new roads, bridges and railway infrastructure, such as the Chișinău belt road, the Odessa- Chișinău-Iași highway and the bridges over Prut River, energy security, by completing a new power line and starting works on two others, to connect the Republic of Moldova to the EU electricity grid, energy subsidies, healthcare, by starting the construction of two new well-equipped hospitals in Cahul and Bălți.
Thanks to the EU’s financial support, the authorities in Chișinău have already approved budget amendments worth approximately €400 million this year, the so-called Budget +Plus, which also provides for an Economic Growth Plan for the Republic of Moldova totaling almost €200 million. The Road Fund and, the National Fund for Regional and Local Development, respectively, will be supplemented by 1 billion lei, from which local roads will be rehabilitated as a top priority.
The statement that the EU no longer consumes Moldovan agricultural products is false. Starting 2014 and until 2023, Moldovan exports to the EU have more than doubled – from $1.24 billion to $2.65 billion. The value of agricultural exports to the EU increased during this period from $440 million to almost $1.2 billion. For instance, the value of fruits and vegetables exported to EU countries (a sensitive category of products, which Russian propaganda claims the EU refuses), increased from $140 million in 2014, to almost $200 million in 2023. Also, the share of exports to the EU increased from 30-40% prior to the signing of the Free Trade Agreement, to over 50%.
BACKGROUND: An ex-Soviet country, with a planned economy centered on the domestic consumption of the former USSR, after proclaiming its independence the Republic of Moldova remained deeply dependent on the Russian market. Prior to the economic crisis in Russia of 1998-1999, over half of Moldovan exports targeted the Russian market, but its share decreased to a little over 3% in 2024. In general, the Republic of Moldova exported less to Russia due to politically motivated embargoes imposed by Russia, such as the wine embargo of 2006, or the agricultural products embargo in 2013-2014.
In the meantime, the Republic of Moldova has diversified its foreign markets and, albeit at a fluctuating pace, has started a process of rapprochement with the European Union, which intensified in 2022, when it was granted EU candidate status. In 2024, EU accession negotiations started.
In 2014, the Republic of Moldova and the European Union signed an Association Agreement, which also includes a free trade agreement, which reduced or eliminated tariff barriers on several products, including agricultural products. The European market share in Moldovan exports exceeded two thirds in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Moldova received billions of Euro in support from the EU for its development or as monetary assistance, the last and biggest such package being the Growth Plan for the Republic of Moldova worth €1.9 billion, of which almost €400 million will be disbursed as a grant.
