Moldova's Parliament endorsed an appeal to press on with a drive to join the European Union, but the opposition walked out of the vote and separatists in the Transnistria region urged authorities to drop their claim to the enclave, Reuters reports.

President Maia Sandu, who says Russia is the biggest threat to Moldova's security, has made EU membership the cornerstone of her administration in the ex-Soviet state.

A vocal opponent of Russia's war in Ukraine, she has called for a referendum on EU membership to be held this year.

After a debate coinciding with an EU summit in Brussels, Parliament adopted by a vote of 54-0 a declaration saying, "Only joining Europe can ensure the future of the country as a sovereign, neutral and full-fledged democratic state."

It identified EU integration as "Moldova's top priority national project." 

After a debate coinciding with an EU summit in Brussels, the Parliament adopted the declaration by a vote of 54-0. 

But the opposition Bloc of Communists and Socialists, sympathetic to Moscow, walked out of the chamber.

In Transnistria, a sliver of land that broke away from Moldova as the Soviet Union was collapsing, self-styled President Vadim Krasnoselsky called on Moldovan authorities to recognize his territory and renounce all claims to it.