The Republic of Moldova didn’t respect the recommendations of the Venice Commission and OSCE to the extent to which one could say that they were accurately respected. That’s why some new aspects appeared last year in the Moldova – EU relations in the form of political conditions for providing macro-financial assistance, EU Ambassador to Moldova Peter Michalko stated in an interview for IPN News Agency, which centered on the results of the implementation of the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement in 2017.
“The European Union’s position on the amendment of the Election Code last year hasn’t changed. In our opinion, the recommendations of the Venice Commission haven’t been respected. Maybe some of them were, but definitely not to the extent to which we could say that they were properly respected, and this led to the common position of three institutions of the European Union: the Council, the Commission and the Parliament, which introduced this political precondition in our assistance. The given position was later included in one of the paragraphs of the Memorandum of understanding on macro-financial assistance, which says that the assistance depends on the observance of the democratic standards, principles, the political multiparty mechanism and human rights, with specific emphasis on the implementation of the electoral legislation. This is also a way of noting the importance attached by the EU to the values on which our relationship is based and which is for us a key element in our relationship,” said the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova.
In general, he described the last year as “important” for the relations between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova. “It was a complete year of implementation of the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement. So, on the one hand, it was a year when the relations were strengthened and the Republic of Moldova was actively supported by the European Union and a year when we had a very open and sincere dialogue and when new elements for our relations started to be used. I refer to the political conditions for providing macro-financial assistance, related to the political processes or, more precisely, to the adoption of the new electoral system after the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the OSCE were ignored. In general, our cooperation continued. Trade grew and investments continued to be made in the Republic of Moldova, even if not at the pace we wanted. That’s why we hope it was a year when we started to fully use the capacities provided by the Association Agreement with its important component – the Free Trade Agreement,” concluded Ambassador Peter Michalko.
