Moldova's future won't be won in Brussels, but at home

In June 2024, Moldova formally launched EU accession negotiations at an intergovernmental conference. Since then, the country has moved from declaring its European ambition to adopting and implementing the rules required for membership. In June 2025 alone, Parliament adopted a new Electricity Law intended to integrate Moldova's energy market with the EU’s and a new Law on Medicines aligning the authorisation, manufacturing and monitoring of pharmaceutical products with European standards. These laws show that accession plans are already changing Moldova's domestic legal framework. The harder test, however, is whether the institutions responsible for applying them can turn legislation into visible results.

Looking ahead, Moldova faces a much larger task than passing a few individual laws. The National Accession Programme for 2025–2029 plans to transpose more than 3,000 EU acts through 1,791 legislative measures and 1,088 implementing actions. So aligning Moldova's laws with EU rules is only part of the process. Each measure will also need to be funded, implemented, and enforced by Moldovan institutions.

The government has set an ambitious timetable: it aims to complete accession negotiations by the end of 2027 to enable the Accession Treaty’s signing in 2028. Such an ambitious target can create momentum, but it can also encourage a focus on how many laws are adopted rather than how well they work. If ministries and local authorities lack staff, expertise or funding, formal alignment will mean little. Progress should therefore be judged not only by legislation passed, but by whether institutions can enforce it.

Two areas already on the government's agenda illustrate what implementation will require: public finance reform and the reorganisation of Moldova's local and regional administration.

Financial reform can seem abstract, but it comes down to a basic question: where does public money go? Moldova needs clearer budgets, stronger audits, better oversight of public contracts and tougher safeguards against fraud. State-owned companies must also be held accountable for how they manage public resources. These measures matter not only to meet European standards, but also to convince Moldova’s citizens that public money is spent in their interests.

These changes are closely connected to the EU's Growth Plan for Moldova, worth up to €1.9 billion, under which regular payments depend on the European Commission verifying agreed reform milestones. This gives the government both an opportunity and a responsibility. European funding can help modernise the country, but only if citizens can see where the money goes and whether it produces real results. New roads, modernised schools and more efficient public services can build confidence in European integration by making its benefits visible in people's everyday lives.

Moldova's local government structure presents a different challenge. The country has 892 mayoralties and 32 districts, while official statistics put its usual-resident population at about 2.4 million, excluding Transnistria and Bender. Of those mayoralties, 776 serve fewer than 3,000 residents, which is more than 87%. Many of these mayoralties just do not have the specialists, funding or administrative capacity needed to provide reliable services or manage large development projects.

Under the government's current proposal, mayoralties would need to serve at least 3,000 residents. Smaller administrations would therefore merge, and the existing 32 districts would be reduced to ten. Villages would keep their names and local identities, but staff, budgets and administrative responsibilities would be shared. The new district structures would be expected to manage larger projects involving roads, hospitals and waste management.

The purpose is not simply to reduce the number of offices on a map. By sharing staff and budgets, the new administrations would have greater capacity to plan infrastructure projects and apply for European funding. The proposal also says that services would remain available in smaller communities through local public-service centres and online platforms, even if a village no longer had its own mayoralty.

However, reorganising a country is far more complicated than changing its legal boundaries. The government will need to decide how resources are divided, where services are located and how smaller communities remain represented. Local officials and residents will also need time to understand what the changes mean for them. The reform should ultimately be judged by whether services improve, not simply by whether the map contains fewer administrations. As of August 2026, the government was preparing the legislative package, and Parliament had not adopted a final restructuring plan.

These reforms must also survive changes in political leadership. EU accession cannot depend on one government or one election campaign. Audits, procurement rules and local administration must work consistently even when officeholders change. Otherwise, reform risks becoming temporary compliance rather than lasting institutional change.

These reforms show why Moldova's European future will ultimately be decided at home. Brussels can provide funding, expertise and clear targets, but Moldovan institutions must turn them into functioning services. Accession will become meaningful when citizens can see its effects in the way public money is managed, in the quality of their local administration and in their everyday lives.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Europäische Kommission - Audiovisueller Dienst, Christophe Licoppe

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