The Association of Independent Press (API) has presented its third monitoring report on the fulfillment of tasks in the field of mass media that the Republic of Moldova has assumed as part of the National Action Plan (PNA) for the Implementation of the EU-RM Association Agreement (AA). The API experts have highlighted that things have stagnated, with respect to quality and quantity, having scored only 7 and 6 points, respectively, under the methodology used to evaluate the monitoring results. This represents only 50% of the projected activities.

“If the analysis hadn’t included activities from the preceding period, along with certain activities that haven’t been planned but were necessary, the degree of implementation would have been even smaller,” says the report quoted by IPN.

Authors Aneta Gonța and Ion Bunduchi have concluded that the actions planned for September-November 2017 were insufficient, have – with one exception – singularly focused on the field of audiovisual media, and weren’t in complete correlation with the provisions of the Association Agreement.

The API experts recommend the revision and amendment of the PNA, to take into consideration the key activities highlighted by the Group for the improvement of mass media legislation. The members of Group were lead to become involved in the revision and amendment of the PNA, which otherwise risks becoming a formality. Furthermore, decision makers were prompted to speed up the implementation of opportune and relevant activities for the mass media of Moldova.

In March 2018, the API will present a final monitoring report on the fulfillment of tasks in the field of mass media assumed by Moldova officials towards their European partners. Furthermore, the API will develop an evaluation survey on the performance of key officials, consulting the perspective of a group of journalists and mass media experts. This activity will conclude with a Policy Brief that will be forwarded to relevant officials and international institutions.