“Corruption and bank frauds should not exist in the future of the Republic of Moldova. We appreciate Maia Sandu’s personal efforts concerning the investigation of the bank fraud and the fight against corruption, but we expect all the political players in the Republic of a Moldova to act in the interests of the citizens, while the EU will offer all the necessary support in this regard,” the President of the European Council Charles Michel stated in a press briefing held together with President Maia Sandu in Chisinau on February 28, IPN reports.



Charles Michel said the EU is a reliable partner of the Republic of Moldova. During the past ten years, the European Union offered the Republic of Moldova grants to the value of over €1 billion. Through the agency of the European Investment Bank, a number of projects concerning drinking water, energy efficiency, development of small and medium-sized enterprises have been implemented in Moldova.



According to the European official, the EU has new programs of cooperation with the WHO and batches of vaccines against the novel coronavirus could be brought to Moldova through the agency of these.



For her part, President Maia Sandu said the EU is a real friend of the Republic of Moldova so that our country is not alone in front of the pandemic. “At the start of this week, we signed a resilience contract for the Republic of Moldova, through which the European Union will offer the Republic of Moldova €15 million for supporting those who were affected by the pandemic crisis the most,” stated the official.



President Sandu underlined that the people’s health is the key priority at the moment. The first 21,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines arrived yesterday in Chisinau and represent a donation from Romania. Another 14,400 dozes are to get to Chisinau next week, through the COVAX platform. They will be used to vaccinate doctors and frontline health workers. There are signals that Lithuania is also ready to donate COVID-19 vaccines to Moldova.



The official added the Republic of Moldova is now in a difficult political situation. The people demand to reform the justice sector and to fight corruption and parliamentary support is needed in this regard. Snap parliamentary elections are needed. The current presidential team has an ambitious agenda and works on an economic recovery program.



“We are a European nation with a European vocation and European future. But we realize that we can build this future ourselves, by things we do at home – by the fight against corruption, by continuous work for modernizing the country, by defending the values of democracy,” stated Maia Sandu.



Charles Michel’s visit to Moldova was the first leg of his working visits to Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine set for February 28-March 3. The visit was made on the invitation of President Maia Sandu.