“Moldova has shown great determination in promoting reforms, defending European values and rejecting hybrid threats. We will continue to support it as a candidate country for membership of the European Union,” wrote European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Saturday, 7 January 2023, after a meeting with Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita in Germany.

Gavrilița is on a working visit to Germany from 6-8 January, where she is attending the closed meeting of the Christian Social Union (CSU) parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.

“I am delighted to be in beautiful Bavaria today. Thank you to the Christian Social Union Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag for hosting such an important discussion about Europe’s next steps. About how we can continue to combat the consequences of the war in Ukraine, about how to tackle the security and economic challenges facing our Union, about how we can turn challenges into opportunities for growth, for jobs, for security and dignity.

About how we will continue to support Moldova as a candidate country for EU membership. It was great to have Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița with us, to thank her country for believing in Europe and standing up for European values,” Roberta Metsola wrote on Facebook, posting a photo with Natalia Gavrilița and Alexander Dobrindt, leader of the CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.

And on Twitter the President of the European Parliament wrote that “Moldova has shown great determination in promoting reforms, defending European values and rejecting hybrid threats”.

On Friday, 6 January 2023, the government announced that Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița will be on a working visit to Germany from 6 to 8 January to attend the closed meeting of the parliamentary group of the Christian Social Union in the German Bundestag.

“The traditional CSU group meeting at the beginning of the year will discuss the current security and economic challenges, the migration issue, as well as the consequences for Germany and the whole of Europe of the war started by the Russian Federation against Ukraine,” the government statement said.

According to the press release, Natalia Gavrilița was also due to hold a series of bilateral meetings with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament, President of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber MEP, and other German officials and businessmen.