EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IS THE ONLY WAY FOR COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT - PRIME MINISTER

Prime Minister Pavel Filip maintains that the only way to successfully develop the country is its European integration.

"I am sure that some of the current difficulties in relations with the European Union remain in the past. We adhere to the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, we have chosen the European way of development and do not see any other alternative to this", Filip said speaking in a live program "Friday with Anatol Golea" on the RTR Moldova channel [the Moldovan subsidiary of Russia's second-largest television and radio corporation].

He maintains that the decision to suspend macro-financial assistance to Moldova, adopted by the European Commission, has a political character.

"Since the very beginning there was not a great desire to provide this assistance to us. When we agreed on preliminary conditions and signed the memorandum on getting this money, we saw that this was done without a great desire. There was a certain resistance, we were asked not to take photos, not to make this event public. Brussels was concerned that the society not to perceive this as Europe's support to the current Government. Then, they set 28 conditions. The process was protracted and the canceling of the Chisinau mayor election results became a reason for renouncing to the providing of money", Filip said. He stressed that the Government fulfilled all the conditions for getting the first tranche of macro-financial assistance totaling 100 million euros.

Answering to questions, he agreed that the court decision on canceling the results of election in Chisinau was unfair.

"The Government was surprised as well. This became the strongest blow to the Government. I believed and keep believing that this was a disproportionate court decision, on the basis of violations, achieved at elections. The court system is independent, I could not call judges and tell them what decision they should issue. At the same time, we still have great problems in the justice system. I cannot exclude that some persons from political or business circles influenced this decision", Filip said.

Talking about the relations with the European Union, he said that the "Pro-Moldova" concept, proclaimed by the Democratic Party, is not contrary to the European integration.

"We want to develop the country in interests of all Moldovan citizens. Politicians are guilty of the fact that they divided the society. For them, it is easy to speculate on geopolitics to attract the electors' votes. We want to develop the country in interest of all its citizens and to move on along the European path. This should be clear for everyone", Filip said.