EU Sending Anti-coup Mission to Moldova in May

By Ahmad El-Assasy

To counter Russia's "destabilising operations," the EU plans to send a new mission to Moldova in May to assist the government.

An internal EU note states that the group of civilian advisors, known as the EU Partnership Mission in Moldova (EUPM Moldova), will be assembled through a "fast-track" procedure for a two-year initial tenure, "with a view to beginning the mission at the Foreign Affairs Council on May 22, 2023."

The EU's foreign ministers regularly convene in the Foreign Affairs Council.

According to a memo dated 29 March and seen by EUobserve, the mission's responsibilities will include "improving the resilience of Moldova's security sector in the area of crisis management as well as improving resilience to hybrid threats, including cybersecurity, and countering foreign information manipulation and interference."

The mission will be "scalable and modular in form so that it can, over time, adjust to changing circumstances," but its size and budget have not yet been defined.

Moreover, the organization's personnel must have "particular competence" in thwarting foreign espionage and "access to cutting-edge technology."

The initiative is being conducted against the backdrop of what the document referred to as "destabilising efforts by foreign players," which made reference to earlier allegations made by Moldova, Ukraine, the EU, and the US that Russia is attempting to topple Moldova's pro-Western government.

Seven purportedly Russian-trained saboteurs were recently detained by Moldovan police, who also prevented hundreds of other questionable foreigners from entering the country.

Nonetheless, due to public unrest over the economic and humanitarian crises brought on by Russia's invasion of the neighbouring Ukraine last year, Chișinău is still on edge.

The EU paper also cautioned that the summit of the European Political Community, which would be held in Moldova on June 1, 2023, "may result in heightened hybrid and information manipulation risks."

An intergovernmental body called the European Political Community was established by France last year.

Other clauses follow Russia firing missiles into Moldova's airspace earlier this year. As a result, EU nations are spending €40 million on Moldova for non-lethal military hardware, including a transportable long-range radar system.

The US intends to increase the budget by a comparable amount, more than tripling the meagre defence spending of the poor nation.

In 2021 and 2022, the EU had allocated €47 million to modernising Moldova's armed forces.