The General Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, alongside the National Platform of Moldova, expressed its profound concern about the political situation in Moldova, which affects the European integration process in the country and the democratic reformation of the state institutions, IPN reports.

According to a join resolution, the General Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is disappointed by the way in which the state institutions involved civil society in the dialogue for resolving the political crisis and promoting the reform agenda in Moldova. Such an approach to governance discredits the process of implementing the Association Agreement between Moldova and the European Union. In the course of 2015, only 21% of the activities stipulated in the plan of action for implementing the Association Agreement were fully carried out. Thus, Moldova ranks last in the European integration process by this indicator.

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum warns that the non-fulfillment of the Government’s obligation to implement the Association Agreement causes the people’s confidence in the European Union to decrease and negatively affects the EU’s image in Moldova. The state institutions have an irresponsible attitude towards the cooperation with civil society. This shows that there is no real will to do reforms and to implement the recommendations formulated by civil society.

The National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is grateful for the assistance provided by the EU in implementing the association agenda and for the political and economic support aimed at increasing welfare and social equity in Moldova and other Eastern Partnership countries. The seventh General Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum held in Kiev calls on the EU to consider adopting a stricter position with regard to representatives of the Government and Parliament of Moldova and to seek progress indicators and clear evidence of the implementation of reforms, especially in such areas as the fight against corruption, de-politicization of the state institutions and reduction in the concentration of media outlets.

The General Assembly invites the EU to contribute to the involvement of society as the main player in the implementation of the Association Agreement and to increase the support for promoting the EU’s image in Moldova and for combating the misinformation of the people about the European Union.