CHISINAU. Feb 1 (Interfax) - Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has been divided in two government agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Integration Bureau, and an additional government post of deputy prime minister for European integration has been established.
The Moldovan parliament adopted the changes on Thursday at the proposal of Prime Minister Dorin Recean.
Chairperson of the parliamentary Standing Committee for Legal Issues, Appointments and Immunity Olesea Stamate said when presenting the document to lawmakers that this move essentially would not involve establishing a new entity or ministry. The European Integration Bureau already exists under Moldova's State Chancellery, she said. The government has two months to prepare the required legal regulatory acts for certain powers to be transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Bureau, Stamate said.
As reported previously, the current structural and personnel changes in the Moldovan government have come as a result of the European Council's decision to begin talks with Chisinau on Moldova's accession to the EU. Former Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu resigned last week. Former Vice President of the Moldovan Parliament Mihai Popsoi was appointed the new foreign minister on Monday.
Former Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Moldova Cristina Gherasimov, who previously worked as a researcher at the Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia under the German Council on Foreign Affairs (DGAP) and in several European universities, will become the deputy prime minister for European integration after the Moldovan parliament approves the new structure of the government. She will head the European Integration Bureau and become Chisinau's lead negotiator at talks with Brussels.