A total of 2,156,882 Moldovans made 31,248,082 trips to Schengen Zone countries in the past ten years, celebrating ten years of free travel in the EU for Moldova.
According to the figures from the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) citizens of Moldova saved at least €270 million, which they could have spent on visas, VisaGuide.World reports.
For ten years, Moldovan citizens have enjoyed visa-free travel to the EU and Schengen Area with just a biometric passport. This has enriched cultural, economic, and social exchanges, opening new opportunities for students, tourists, and business people.
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of visa-free travel to the EU’s Schengen Area, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Cristina Gerasimov said that a generation has grown in Moldova that no longer knows what a visa to the European Union means. According to Gerasimov, such a step has brought huge benefits to the citizens of Moldova.
She said that thanks to the freedom to travel to the bloc, a larger number of Moldovans had the chance to study in European universities and also carry out joint projects, thus having the opportunity to discover how big, beautiful, and diverse the world is.
In this regard, President Maia Sandu said that the citizens of Moldova are Europeans and deserve to live freely.
The Moldovans are Europeans and deserve to live freely, travel where they want, work where they want, like all the European citizens. It is essential to become an EU member state not only for the free movement but also for peace, welfare and democracy to remain guaranteed.
Moldovans Are Europeans & Should Have the Right to Live Freely
Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu said that it is important to value freedom and continue to talk about the benefits of being part of the big European family.
The Visa regime for citizens of Moldova was liberalized on April 28, 2014, thus applying changes to the European Union Regulation no. 539/2001.
Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that since 2014, more than 30 million crossings have been made by Moldovan citizens to the EU countries.
Earlier this year, the Moldovan Public Services Agency (ASP) said that from next year, Moldovans might be able to enter the bloc by only presenting their IDs. In this regard, the director of ASP, Mircea Eșanu, said that the country will replace the existing ID card version with a new one that will meet the EU requirements.