President Maia Sandu told the European Parliament that the continent’s security and stability depend on defending democracies under pressure, with Ukraine playing a decisive role in maintaining regional peace.
“On September 28, 2025, Moldova will hold the most decisive election in our history. The result will determine whether we consolidate ourselves as a stable democracy on the path toward the European Union – as a safe neighbor of Ukraine and a security provider for the Union – or whether Russia destabilizes us, tears us away from Europe, and turns us into a threat at Ukraine’s southwestern border and Europe’s eastern frontier,” the head of state said.
She stressed that Moldova, Ukraine, and the Western Balkans prove today that the European project not only survives but continues to expand and protect. “It still expands. It still protects,” she declared.
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“And both our democracies will be safer once we are part of the Union. That is why I say: this Union has never been about perfection. It has been about the protection of fragile democracies until they grew stronger. And it must remain so today. Because democracy does not come by itself. It comes after hardship. After sacrifice. And above all, with the support of friends. This is Moldova’s lesson. And it is also Moldova’s warning: if our democracy cannot be protected, then no democracy in Europe is safe.
When Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we knew we could no longer wait. We needed security. And we knew that the sooner we joined the European Union — a peace project in which no member state has ever gone to war against another — the safer our democracy and our people would be. That is why we applied for membership just days after Russian tanks entered our neighborhood. We obtained candidate status and opened accession negotiations. We are not asking for shortcuts. We are doing our homework diligently. But for us, accession is not just a technocratic exercise. It is a race against time — to anchor our democracy in the European Union, where it will be protected from the greatest threat: Russia.”
Sandu reminded the audience that Moldova cannot escape its geography. “We feel the long arm of Russian aggression. We share a border with Ukraine of more than 1,200 km, longer than that of any of your countries. And the reason Moldova enjoys peace today is because Ukraine resists. Ukrainians are fighting to defend their country and their freedom. And at the same time, they are protecting Moldova. We owe our peace to them. But their sacrifice is also a warning: peace is never guaranteed. This is why our European path is not just about values — it is about survival. And precisely because we have advanced so much on this path, Russia has unleashed its entire arsenal of hybrid attacks against us. The battlefield is our elections,” she added.
She recalled that Moldovans won independence through economic and political hardships and through a conflict that Russia fueled on their soil. “And every time we truly exercised our right to choose freely, Moscow struck back: it cut off our gas, banned our wine and fruit, and provoked tensions in the Transnistrian region. But today we are facing a boundless hybrid war on a scale unseen until the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin’s goal is clear: to capture Moldova through the ballot box, to use us against Ukraine, and to turn us into a launchpad for hybrid attacks against the European Union. This is why these elections matter so much. By defending them, we are protecting not only Moldova — but also regional security and stability.”