The Commission of the European Union has announced that visitors from Moldova to the EU will soon be able to use their mobile phones under the same price conditions as in their country.
A proposal to incorporate roaming into the EU-Moldova Association Agreement has already been adopted, and once all the steps are completed, similar to Moldovans, travellers from the EU will also benefit from the same rights when reaching Moldova.
According to the Commission, bringing Moldova into the EU “roam like at home” is one of the most important actions agreed on in June of this year.
Commenting on the adoption of the proposal, the Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that the bloc is one step closer to bringing Moldova into the free-roaming area.
“Citizens in the EU and Moldova will be able in the future to call, text, and use the Internet without extra costs when travelling abroad: just like the Roam-like-at-home that Europeans are very familiar with. It will make life easier for Moldovan citizens coming to the EU and help EU citizens travelling to Moldova. It demonstrates that Moldova’s future is in the EU,” the statement of Dombrovskis reads.
The Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, also commented on the move. Breton said that this step would further support Moldova’s advancement on its path as well as into the EU Single Market.
Moreover, Breton said that this step represents an important milestone in the relationship between the EU and Moldova and, at the same time, stressed that the proposal will bring citizens of Moldova closer to benefiting from an important aspect of the Single Market.
Now that the proposal to incorporate roaming into the EU-Moldova Association Agreement has been adopted, it will be considered by the EU Council.
Once the Council agrees on the matter, a joint decision will then be taken by the EU-Moldova Association Committee in Trade Configuration to incorporate the most recent changes in telecoms and postal services.
Furthermore, as soon as the approximation as well as the implementation of this legislation is completed in Moldova, the country and the EU will be able to agree to allow “roam like at home” to start officially.
Since June 2022, when Moldova was granted that candidate status, the country expressed its interest in the single market rules in the telecom sector. The move is expected to benefit numerous people travelling between Moldova and the EU.
