The European Union does not want to offer money to support reforms in the justice sector because it changed its attitude to the Republic of Moldova, deputy minister of justice Nicolae Esanu stated in the program “Black box” on TV8 channel, IPN reports.

The deputy minister said it is incorrect to believe that the situation in justice is now fundamentally different from that witnessed in 2014, 2015 or 2016. “There is no fundamental difference between now and then, when money came. The problem was related to the general attitude,” said Nicolae Esanu. According to him, the change in the EU’s attitude is subjective and is based on the general situation in society. What was forgiven to the previous governments is not forgiven now.

Nicolae Esanu noted that the EU decided not to offer financial support to Moldova mainly owing to the shortcomings seen in the adoption of the package of laws on integrity and the Law on the Prosecution Service.

Ion Guzun, jurist of the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, said the EU penalized the Republic of Moldova for things that take place in the legal system that is actually becoming more closed. “The European Union didn’t provide €28 million because we didn’t have good students,” he stated.

On October 11, the EU announced that it will not transfer any further funds to the Moldovan state budget to support reforms in the justice sector because the Moldovan authorities showed insufficient commitment to reforming the justice sector in 2014 and 2015. With insufficient allocation of funds and personnel, the necessary reforms have not been carried out. As a result, progress has not been sufficient. This means that the Moldovan authorities have not fulfilled the EU’s conditions for receiving the last financial transfer under the justice reform program, which amounts to €28 million. This sum will not be paid to the Moldovan state budget, but remain with the EU.