Romania fully backs Moldova’s bid to sign an agreement on closer ties with the European Union by the end of this year, President Traian Basescu said on Thursday following an official visit to Chisinau.

“Moldova has no alternative to Europe for its future course. Romania wants to be on your side at this important moment and assure you that Bucharest remains will remain your advocate without reservation,” Basescu told a joint press conference with Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti.

Moldova is preparing for the initialing of the association agreement with the EU and the free-trade agreement at the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in November.

Basescu added that Romania is interested in setting up an electricity grid with Moldova as well as new bridges across the river Prut, which borders the countries.

The construction works for a Moldova-Romania gas pipeline will start in August, while a high-voltage power network between the two countries will be completed in October Another two networks of this kind will later be built, Basescu added.

Romania’s head of state also promised that Romania will continue to offer scholarships for Moldovan youngsters whose number will rise from 5,500 to 6,000 next year.

Basescu is very popular in Moldova as he has been a vocal supporter of the country’s interest. Thousands of Moldovans have also obtained Romanian citizenship in recent years.

But some analysts say Romania failed to deliver on all its promises to Moldova. “In the last three years, Romania has given only some 17 million euro, out of a promised non-reimbursable grant of 100 million,” Cristian Ghinea, from the the Romanian Centre for European Policies, CRPE, noted.

He added that inexperience and the excessive bureaucracy in Romania were the main reasons for this failure.

Ghinea also said that raising the number of scholarship for Moldovan students, as Basescu promised, was just a political gesture, and of little practical use.

“Young Moldovans are not as interested in studying in Romania as they were in the past,” he said.

“During the 2011-2012 scholastic year, around 36 per cent of the available scholarships were not even taken up, so why increase their number?” he asked.

Moldova was part of Romania from 1918 to 1940, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union. It became independent in 1991.

It shares the same ethnic and linguistic background as Romania. Today, about 80 per cent of the Moldova’s population of 4.1 million are of Romanian ethnic origin and speak Romanian – although the country’s constitution calls the language Moldovan and Russian is also an official language.

Russia and neighbouring EU member Romania have long vied for influence in Moldova, where reforms are needed to end corruption and depoliticise key institutions such as the judiciary and police.