Lithuanian MEP Petras Auštrevičius said the elections are definitely a matter of sovereignty, but the organization of elections and their transparency and correctness are no longer a national issue and influence and involve a broader community. Moldova is a Council of Europe member and the elections are thus not the exclusive competence of the Moldovan government. For example, no broad general consultations were held before amending the electoral system. Time was not yet lost and it is never too late to put the recommendations of the Venice Commission into practice, IPN reports.

In an interview the Radio Free Europa’s Service in Moldova, the MEP said the EU macro-financial assistance that Moldova needs like air from now on will not be provided unconditionally, but after the conditions communicated a year ago are met. “Our conditions are to implement the political conditions communicated then: putting into practice of the Venice Commission’s recommendations concerning the electoral law, changes in the mass media (more independence and balance) as well as the fight against corruption. At this moment, the electoral law is the most pressing issue,” noted the official. According to him, the solution is in Chisinau, not in Brussels and the Government knows very well what it should do for the EU to disburse the money.

“The political conditionality will dictate from now on our relations with the EU neighborhood. We see the risk of degradation of democracy, human rights, the rule of law and situation of the press in our vicinity. That’s why from May 2017, when Parliament signed the memorandum with the Council and the Commission, it was very clear to me that we will not deviate at least a millimeter from these decisions. That’s why it is better for us, the EU and Moldova, to engage in a responsible dialogue to see to what extent we applied the political conditionality criteria,” stated Petras Auštrevičius.