The European Union reduced the second trance of the financing provided to Moldova within the Support to the Justice Sector Reform Program from €15 to €13.2 million, Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova and Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim announced in a news conference on September 15, IPN reports.

The ambassador said that a foreign mission assessed the way Moldova is fulfilling the conditions stipulated in the financing agreement. The second tranche was cut mainly because the reformat at the Prosecutor General’s Office is delayed.

“We must focus more on implementation and must tackle corruption as a national priority and as a top priority in the relations between the EU and Moldova in justice,” said Pirkka Tapiola. According to the ambassador, before disbursing the next tranches the EU will follow attentively the process of implementing laws related to the justice reform.

For his part, Oleg Efrim said the reduction of this tranche shows that the reforms weren’t done as expected, but last year Moldova experienced a political crisis for almost half a year and thus the reformation process was delayed.

The minister also said that President Nicolae Timofti last week promulgated the strategy for reforming the Prosecutor General’s Office and Parliament is to adopt the laws needed for implementing this strategy. “The fact that we are behind schedule in some areas does not mean that we gave up fulfilling the overdue measures,” stated Oleg Efrim.

The EU planned to allocate €60 million for the justice sector reform strategy of Moldova. The first tranche of €15 million was provided last December.