A similar provision was added to Ukraine's constitution several years ago. The BBC says that the referendum was non-binding as EU accession negotiations began last December and the new Constitutional provision merely restates the aim to get them over and done with, but its actual text - presented below, as Google Translate'd from the original Romanian with some adaptations for understanding - would suggest otherwise:
Added to the Preamble:
...RECONFIRMING the European identity of the people of the Republic of Moldova and the irreversibility of the European course of the Republic of Moldova,
DECLARING integration into the European Union as a strategic objective of the Republic of Moldova...
Added to the Constitution proper:
Title V1: INTEGRATION INTO THE EUROPEAN UNION
Article 1401: Accession to the foundational treaties and to the acts that revised the foundational treaties of the European Union
(1) The accession of the Republic of Moldova to the foundational treaties of the European Union, as well as to the acts that revised the foundational treaties of the European Union, shall be established by the Parliament through an organic law.
(2) As a result of the accession, the provisions of the constitutive treaties of the European Union, as well as the other binding legal acts of the European Union have priority over those contradictory provisions of the internal laws, in compliance with the provisions of the act of accession.
...RECONFIRMING the European identity of the people of the Republic of Moldova and the irreversibility of the European course of the Republic of Moldova,
DECLARING integration into the European Union as a strategic objective of the Republic of Moldova...
Added to the Constitution proper:
Title V1: INTEGRATION INTO THE EUROPEAN UNION
Article 1401: Accession to the foundational treaties and to the acts that revised the foundational treaties of the European Union
(1) The accession of the Republic of Moldova to the foundational treaties of the European Union, as well as to the acts that revised the foundational treaties of the European Union, shall be established by the Parliament through an organic law.
(2) As a result of the accession, the provisions of the constitutive treaties of the European Union, as well as the other binding legal acts of the European Union have priority over those contradictory provisions of the internal laws, in compliance with the provisions of the act of accession.
Although the referendum result was a Phyrric victory for President Maia Sandu and her fellow supporters of the EU, the woman herself had an objectively bad night in the Presidential election - she only won 42.4% of the vote, below the 50%+1 required to avoid a runoff. Aleksandr Stoianoglo, spearhead of the eurosceptic Socialist Party, won 26% and has earned the support of many popular third party candidates who didn't join him in the runoff; basic mathematics suggests he should be on track for a win when the second round is held in two weeks, but it's not clear by how much or even whether he will pull off the win.
This is a general thread to discuss Moldova's 2024 elections. I offer this as a starter question: What do you think will be the consequences of this, and why? On the EU matter, the "pro-Russian" opposition has been fairly equivocal about the referendum, despite Shor's influence over it. I think Moldova will eventually join the EU regardless of what happens - probably in the 2040s - and that the referendum, while helpful, probably didn't move the needle as much as anyone expected it to. On the election, I expect Stoianoglo to win by probably a couple of percentage points; he will make dissatisfied noises and stall the EU accession negotiations, but do nothing to actually stop Moldova's European momentum.
I know that was an exhausting OP. Please enjoy Ami the sniffer dog, who helped catch out a few of Shor's money mules at Chisinau Airport earlier this year:
