The financial support provided by the European Union to Moldova over the last six years increased five times, from €25 million in 2006 to €122 million in 2012, the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said while in Chisinau on an official visit, Info-Prim Neo reports. Making a speech at the National Palace, the official said that the EU significantly augmented its bilateral assistance budget, by 30%. “In the history of our relations, we never exceeded the symbolic ceiling of €100 million a year,” stated Jose Manuel Barroso. According to him, if these grants are cumulated with the other assistance funds of the EU, the amount per capita will be €41, which is the highest level of EU support in the European neighborhood. “A part of these additional funds will be used to help the Moldovan agricultural producers affected by this year’s drought. These resources will be also used to develop the public health system. Next year, we will start to provide assistance to the education sector, namely to vocational education and training,” stated the official. Jose Manuel Barroso said that if Moldova implements more structural reforms to improve the observance of the democratic standards and to create a functional market economy, the European Union will offer more support in this respect. “Our common goal today is to incorporate the European values and the respect for human rights into the essence of the Moldovan institutions and the political life and to foster our economic relations that have an enormous potential. This will help Moldova’s economy to become much more robust and sustainable and to gradually become integrated into the vast common European market, which is the largest market in the world,” said the European official. Within Jose Manuel Barroso’s visit to Chisinau, there were signed two documents for a total of €11 million, including the third addendum to the financing agreement for the Health Reform Budget Support Program and a financing agreement for the Vocational Education and Training Program.