How can the US support Moldova’s Western aspirations?

The Atlantic Council Invites you on Friday, July 14 at 2 pm EST to a discussion on ”How can the US support Moldova’s Western aspirations?” featuring Igor Grosu, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and Doina Gherman, Chair of the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. The discussion will be moderated by John E. Herbst, Senior Director of the Eurasia Center. The event will take place at Atlantic Council offices located at 1030 15th Street, NW, 12th Floor, in Washington, DC.

In June 2022, Moldova officially received European Union candidate status alongside Ukraine, placing it on a clear trajectory towards the West and Euro-Atlantic institutions. Chișinău continues to reinforce this trend through continued deep engagement and dialogue with Brussels and Washington in fields of strategic, energy, and economic cooperation. Most recently, this has included the Moldova-US Strategic Dialogue and the Second European Political Community Summit, both hosted in Chișinău to foster Moldova’s continued coordination with the West. The United States remains a stalwart partner of Moldova in supporting Chișinău’s long-term democratic and economic reforms as well as its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of continued Russian interference and aggression.

How has Moldova progressed on its path towards EU membership? How can the West best aid Moldova as it pursues further integration with Western institutions and steels itself against Russian destabilization efforts? How can Washington and Chișinău continue to work together towards deeper, more dynamic relations?

To register, please visit: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/how-can-the-us-support-moldovas-western-aspirations/

Igor Grosu is a Moldovan politician who is the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova since 29 July 2021. He has been a member of the Moldovan Parliament since March 2019. Grosu has been the acting leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) since 9 December 2020. Igor Grosu became the Deputy Minister of Education of Moldova under Minister of Education Maia Sandu at that time. In August 2015, the Prime Minister of Moldova, Valeriu Streleț, appointed Grosu as the Prime Minister’s principal consultant for Science, Education, Health Policies and Social Protection. When Maia Sandu founded the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) in 2015-2016, Grosu joined as a founder-member of the party and became the party’s General Secretary. He also founded a few non-governmental organizations, such as: Amnesty International Moldova, National Assistance, the Non-Gov Organizations Information Center of Moldova CONTACT, Pro-Democracy Association, National Youth Council of Moldova, and the Analysis and Evaluation Center of Reform. He ran in 2021 parliamentary elections with the first position in the national list. PAS won then the best electoral result of any right-wing party in the Moldovan history (by percentage): 52,80% of votes (63/101 MPs). On July 29, he was voted by 64 MPs the President of the Moldovan Parliament.

Doina Gherman has served in the Moldovan Parliament since 2019, where she has championed efforts to promote women’s inclusion and protect survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. She is the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) deputy chair, head of the PAS Women’s Organization, chairs Parliament’s Foreign Policy and European Integration Commission, and previously served in Parliament’s Human Rights Commission. Before entering Parliament, she worked as an inspector in Moldova’s Customs Service and taught Communication and Branding at the Institute of Sciences in Education. Ms. Gherman earned a master’s degree in Management from the Moldovan Academy of Public Administration and a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages from Balti State University. She speaks Romanian, Russian, French, and English.