The foreign ministers of France and Germany have said the EU would be ready to sign an association agreement with Moldova this summer.

Laurent Fabius and Frank Walter Steinmeier were in the Moldovian capital for a meeting with Prime Minister Yurie Leancă.

The deal would be similar to the one Ukraine decided not to ratify last year.

“We absolutely don’t want to build new barriers across the continent, we want to bring Moldova to the EU and, at the same time, we want Moldova’s excellent relations with Russia to continue,” said Fabius.

“Regarding that, I want to stress our full support of Moldova’s territorial integrity,” he added.

The leaders met amid Western concerns about calls for independence from Transdniestria, the breakaway region between Moldova and Ukraine.