Government of Republic of Moldova

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova

Common European Defense and Security Policy

Common Security and Defense Policy

The European Union's Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) targets initiatives in the field of defense, internal and foreign policies as part of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy.

EU military operations are related to stabilization, conflict prevention and inter-positioning between the parties involved in the conflict, protection of the civilian population and international staff, fight against piracy, protection of trade, fishing industry and humanitarian assistance. Since its establishment 34 international operations and missions have been deployed in the framework of CSDP, including 22 civilian missions and 12 military operations (under a UN mandate).

The Republic of Moldova's participation in CSDP missions and operations is an important aspect for the development of bilateral political relations, that contributes to common efforts to ensure security in Europe . This commitment derives also from the Eastern Partnership Declaration (Warsaw 2011). According to the National Security Strategy, contribution to the EU crisis management operations is a priority.

The agreement between the EU and the Republic of Moldova establishing a framework for the participation of the Republic of Moldova in European Union crisis management operations was signed on 13 December 2012 (entered into force in July 2013).

The Law nr. 219/2015 on the participation of the Republic of Moldova in international missions establishes the legal framework for the deployment of national experts to EU crisis management missions and operations.

Over the past years, the Republic of Moldova has been invited to participate in several EU missions, including EUCAP Somalia, EUBAM Libya, EUMAM RCA, EUTM Sahel Mali and EUTM Mali. The Republic of Moldova has deployed experts to EUTM Mali (2014; 2016; 2018-to date) and EUMAM in the Central African Republic (2015-2016). From 2014 to 2020, the Republic of Moldova has deployed 8 national experts to EU crisis management missions.In 2014 Moldova – EU staff-to-staff consultations on security and defence related matters were launched. At these meetings, the priorities of bilateral cooperation in the field of CSDP are set out, such as: the development of institutional capacities for the participation of Moldova in crisis management missions; cooperation in the field of exchange of classified information; ensuring convergence to the alignment of Moldova with EU restrictive measures; including setting priorities for cooperation in preventing and combating hybrid threats.

On the 30th of March 2017, the Moldova-EU Agreement on security procedures for exchanging and protecting classified information was signed (entered into force on the 1 January 2018). This agreement should open new horizons of the bilateral partnership in various fields of the security and defense dimension.