New Opportunities for Moldova VICTOR CHIRILA T he legal framework governing relations between Moldova and the eu is still based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement( pca ) which entered into force in 1998, for a period of ten years. For Moldova, which in 2005 made European integration the major strategic objective of its domestic and foreign policy, the pca in fact generated two major handicaps. First of all, the pca did not provide a clear and well-defined goal for relations between Moldova and the eu in terms of Moldova’s gradual integration into the European family. The pca ’s major accom­plishments include: the development of a structured and continuous political dialogue with the eu ; the eu ’s involvement in the promotion of internal reforms in Moldova; and the commencement of the process of adapting Moldova’s laws to eu standards in the realm of human rights, the legal and administrative system, the economy and trade, customs cooperation, food safety measures, food security, transportation, social reform, education, and so on. When Moldova signed up to the European Neighbourhood Policy ( enp ) in 2004, this did not change the legal framework of relations be­tween Moldova and the eu . Consequently, the pca remained the basic agreement governing Moldovan–European partnership, but it was now accompanied by a political document in the form of an individual Action Plan drawn up between the eu and the Republic of Moldova and intended to accelerate political, economic, and social reforms in the country in exchange for deepening its relations with the eu . The enp generated high expectations regarding Moldova’s chances of integrating rapidly in the eu family. However, the implementation of the enp has not always been coherent, continuous, and consistent. This was pointed out in the Euro­pean Commission reports of 2006, 2008, and 2009 on the progress made by Moldova in implementing the Action Plan, as well as in the evaluations conducted by local experts. Both the European Commission and local experts concluded that, despite the progress achieved by the Republic of Moldova in the majority of fields, effective implementation of reforms ipg 3/2011 Chirila, Moldova 109