The EU is willing to help Moldova fully use new possibilities of getting closer to the European integration goal, Prime Minister Vlad Filat told a briefing held upon his return from a visit to Brussels, which, he said, showed the EU's openness towards Moldova.

Filat said that the Brussels meeting of the Moldova-EU cooperation council marked a new stage in relations between Moldova and the EU, with a joint statement signed at the meeting for the first time ever coming to confirm this, the prime minister said.

Vlad Filat said that both sides confirmed willingness to negotiate an association agreement in a sustained pace. The document is to ensure Moldova's political association and economic integration into the EU. In the context, Filat said that the first round of negotiations on the association agreement would be held in Chisinau on 12 January.

Also, it is planned to create a free trade zone between Moldova and the EU in the context of negotiations on the association agreement. To this end, the sides agreed on an action programme aimed at preparing the launch of negotiations on the free trade zone, Filat said.

The joint statement said that talks on the liberalization of the visa regime with the EU will be launched in 2010. Filat noted that these would be preceded by a visit to Chisinau by an EU mission tasked with assessing the situation in the judiciary and internal affairs.

The premier also said that it was premature to say when the visa regime would be liberalized, but added that "that moment is much closer than our opponents believe".

Filat also said that at the beginning of the next year, the EU would announce its 2010 package of macro financial assistance for Moldova.

Vlad Filat also reviewed a meeting with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, who welcomed the Moldovan authorities' European agenda and offered to back Moldova implement its European integration prospects.

Download the Joint Statement of the EU-Moldova Cooperation Council.