MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/. The leader of the opposition Sor party pledged on Tuesday to call for suspending Moldova’s integration into the European Union if its candidate, Yevgenia Gutsul, wins the election for head of the autonomous region of Gagauzia.

"We, the Sor party, will demand and insist that any Moldovan integration into Europe be suspended, as it contravenes the [Moldovan] constitution," Ilan Sor told Rossiya-24 television. The politician accused Moldovan authorities of ignoring the principle of neutrality, which is enshrined in the country’s fundamental law, as well as showing no respect for those citizens who he said favored "an uncompromised neutrality and are against seeing Moldova dragged into any alliances."

Grigorii Uzun of the Socialist Party, who is also a critic of the current pro-EU Moldovan government’s confrontational stance toward Moscow, will face off against Sor party candidate Gutsul in the second round of the election in Gagauzia later this month.

At a summit in Brussels on June 23, 2022, the EU heads of state and government approved granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, the first step on the two countries’ ostensible path toward joining the bloc. Authorities in the unrecognized republic of Transnistria and the Gagauz autonomous region slammed the decision, however, which they said had been made without consulting the general public and in a non-transparent way. Kiev and Chisinau would need to meet a number of requirements, including the implementation of major reforms and resolving the Transnistrian issue, before EU accession negotiations could begin in earnest.