The Head of the EU Delegation in Chisinau Peter Michalko said the Moldovan authorities have all the instruments needed to correct the situation related to the invalidation of the Chisinau local mayoral elections. He referred to legislative and administrative instruments. “The will of the citizens from Chisinau is not respected. Chisinau does not have the mayor it elected,” the ambassador statedd in the talk show “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel, IPN reports.

The diplomat noted the justice sector in the Republic of Moldova should be subject to a profound radical reform so as to ensure the independence of the judiciary and a number of laws should be adopted in this regard. A part of these went through Parliament, but other laws are yet to be passed. “For example, the amendment to the Constitution that would bring more independence to judges wasn’t adopted and this process stagnates in Parliament. There is also another law in the process of adoption in Parliament. The EU always said that changes should be made as they are for the citizens,” stated Peter Michalko.

The ambassador said it is not enough to adopt laws and these should also applied. “The judges should apply the existing legislation to protect the citizens so that we do not see these abuses in the use of preventive detention that is characterized as excessive in many documents by international organizations as well,” stated the diplomat, noting there are concrete cases when this measure is used abusively.

As to the investigation into the banking fraud, the European official said the EU authorities expect this would be completed and the money would be recovered, while those to blame for the theft would be jailed. “This is in the hands of the prosecution service, the specialized agency and the justice sector is also featured in the cases under examination,” he stated.