Dialog of Moldova with EU more reserved in Q3: Euromonitor

The dialog between Moldova and the European Union was more reserved in quarter 3 of 2008, especially on the part of the European Community, the authors of the analytical publication “Euromonitor” find, Info-Prim Neo reports. Director of the Participating Democracy Association Adept Igor Botan stated Wednesday at the launch of the 12th issue of Euromonitor that the European structures go on finding we have very good laws, but we implement them poorly. According to experts from Adept and from the Expert-Grup analytical group, the European bodies warned the Moldovan authorities about the degrading state of democracy and of the freedom of expression. In addition, the European Community is concerned with the latest amendments to the electoral law (raising the electoral threshold, banning electoral blocs and electing people with dual citizenship.) The main achievements in the political dialogue with the EU in quarter 3 were related to the launch of the informal talks on the future legal arrangement between Moldova and the EU, the launch of the Moldova-EU Cooperation Platform of the Mobility Partnership and the twinning project for the Moldovan Parliament. In terms of democratic institutions, only moderate achievement were found, as well as some problems getting worse. They refer to the frequent violation of human rights, media's degrading situation and the restricted access to information, the incoherent implementation of reforms, etc. According to Igor Botan, also recession in the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict was registered during that quarter, influenced by the Russian-Georgian war, and by its consequence – the Russian recognition of Abkhazia's and Ossetia's independence. All the efforts to resume the 5+2 talks yielded no result. Although Russia tried to reduce the weight of the 5+2 format, the Moldovan authorities kept their option for this format. Expert-Grup Center director Valeriu Prohnitchi says the economic developments were influenced by the last summer floods which triggered unprojected public expenditures. However, as it's an electoral year, the Government decided to raise some budget earners' wages, the social indemnities and some compensations. The inflation was held back after the National Bank intervened. The world financial crisis is dangerous for the Moldovan economy because it depends on foreign earnings. Alex Oprunenco from Expert-Grup says although Moldova enjoys the autonomous trade preferences, they are not used fully because of domestic barriers. To insure a better trade balance, the expert recommends the authorities to focus not on diminishing the imports, but on raising the exports. The quarterly report “Euromonitor” aims at monitoring the implementation of the reforms launched in accordance with the Moldova-EU Action Plan, and is published with the support of the Soros Foundation-Moldova.