For the first time, Moldova will benefit from the Twinning Programme providing inter-institutional cooperation with the states of the European Union, as part of community assistance. The first project of this type, offered to the Moldovan Parliament, will start in 2008, a press release of the Parliament’s press service says, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The Twinning Programme is one of the main instruments of the European Union for the consolidation of beneficiary states’ institutional capacities. It aims the development and the modernisation of the public administration as well as the creation of necessary conditions, at the level of structures and human resources, for the adjustment of national legislation and practices to the standards of the EU member states. Besides the consolidation of general cooperation, the Programme is directed towards specific goals. The inter-institutional cooperation programme will assist Moldovan Parliament on four components: harmonisation of the national legislation with the European standards, strengthening Parliament’s control function, the introduction of the legislation’s impact evaluation procedure and the optimisation of the Parliament’s Office structure and functions. The legislative body will be assisted by the Parliaments of France and Hungary. The last week visit to Moldova of a joint mission representing the two foreign bodies represented the start of the preparation period of the programme’s initiation.