The European Union confirms the reduction of financial support due to the ongoing deterioration of the rule of law and democracy in Moldova. The EU expects the Moldovan authorities to take urgent and immediate action to rectify the situation, and in particular to ensure the upcoming parliamentary elections are conducted in a credible, inclusive and transparent manner. Such statements were made by Christian Danielsson, European Commission Director General for European Neighbourhood Policy, and Thomas Mayr Harting, Managing Director at the European External Action Service for Europe and Central Asia, who are in Chisinau on a visit, IPN reports.
Christian Danielsson told a news conference that they had meetings with representatives from the government, the opposition parties and from civil society. The European Union expects the Moldovan authorities to take urgent and immediate action to rectify the situation, and in particular to ensure the upcoming parliamentary elections are conducted in a credible, inclusive and transparent manner. This includes ensuring appropriate international monitoring and ensuring a level playing field for the opposition, including in terms of registration and in the media.
It was also mentioned the expediting of a thorough, impartial and comprehensive prosecution of the banking fraud, exposed in 2014; recovery of the misappropriated funds and bringing if all those responsible to justice, irrespective of any political affiliations and without further delay; engagement in substantive judicial reform, with a view to guaranteeing quality, transparency, impartiality and independence of the judiciary, and fighting of high-level corruption including by ensuring the effective implementation of the asset declaration system with regard to all high-level actors.
In light of this deterioration, and in line with the principle of strict conditionality, the European Commission has taken the decision to substantially recalibrate its financial assistance and redirect support to projects that have a direct, positive impact on Moldovan citizens. Payments under the Macro-Financial Assistance and EU budget support programs have also been put on hold, pending tangible progress in the aforementioned areas. The EU will continue to follow with the closest attention all aspects relevant to the preparation and conduct of the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova.
On November 28, Christian Danielsson will meet Speaker of the Parliament Adrian Candu. He will also give a speech at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova to young people to recall the EU’’s commitment to invest in young people’s skills.
In the past years, the EU has been supporting many reforms at national level and provided substantial amounts of financial assistance to Moldova, which has brought the following results to Moldovan people: financial support for 5,000 enterprises, supported 56,000 jobs in SMEs, and created 1,735 new jobs; nearly 150 nurseries, schools and community centers around the country have benefited from an EU program providing them with efficient energy supply; new drinking water supply infrastructure has been built with EU support all over the country. Now, more than 15,000 people are provided with safe and sufficient drinking water. The EU is also contributing to building roads all around the country, including the EU-funded Ungheni bypass. In the years 2015-2017, more than 900 Moldovan students and academic staff have been able to study and teach in the EU thanks to the EU’s Erasmus+ program.
Under the 2017 and 2018 budgets, the EU has recalibrated its financial support, now worth over €106 million, with a number of programs to be implemented within the coming years.
