The European Union is the largest supporter of the Republic of Moldova in terms of the provision of assistance as such and as regards the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republic of Moldova benefits from assistance from the EU and from the Member States of the EU. The total value of the European assistance provided until now to Moldova exceeds €1 billion, said participants in a debate mounted by the Institute for European Policies and Reforms, IPN reports.

Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Peter Michalko stated that the financial institutions, the member states combined forces to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It was consolidation inside the EU, at the level of the member states, and also between the foreign partners. The EU offers Moldova support in the form of programs that were already planned, regional programs. A part of the assistances comes in the form of budget support. Another part is offered in macro-financial assistance, while the rest in the form of projects. Batches of aid are also provided.

According to the official, the EU identified and reoriented over €87 million for Moldova’s immediate needs and for managing the consequences of COVID-19. Besides this, the EU will provide € 100 million in new emergency macro-financial assistance, in addition to the € 70 million of the macro-financial assistance agreed in November 2017. The money will be disbursed on a number of conditions. The first tranche of the new macro-financial assistance could be allocated swiftly without imposing conditions. The second tranche could reach Moldova at the end of this year or the start of next year.

Tatiana Molcean, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, said that the Republic of Moldova in the period benefited from important assistance from the EU and from the EU Member States, such as Romania, Lithuania, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, etc. In this regard, the embassies are very active. “All the possible instruments were activated and in the period we receive assistance based on different instruments and programs,” stated the official, noting that outside the crisis, EU assistance is provided through the agency of different instruments. Besides the ordinary mechanisms of the EU, which is Moldova’s main donor, there are also new instruments created in times of crisis.

Tatiana Ivanichikina, secretary of state at the Ministry of Finance, said the assistance provided by the development partners is reflected in the state budget and this is support indeed for the people, civil society, small and medium-sized enterprises. Earlier, their Ministry aimed to attract foreign assistance to the state budget, but in the crisis period they also discuss assistance that is not reflected in the budget with the development partners. This assistance centers on three dimensions: for the health system (purchase of equipment and other things), for the social sector (civil society, implementation of projects at local level) and for supporting the economy. In this regard, the European institutions offer significant support through credit lines, through commercial banks from which the SMEs can raise loans in preferential conditions to support their business.

The debate titled “EU assistance for alleviating the effects of COVID-19 on the Republic of Moldova” was organized by Institute for European Policies and Reforms with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.