EU will provide 26.1m euros for budgetary support to Moldova

The European Union will offer Moldova 26.1 million euros in financial support for the budget . The first tranche of this sum will be disbursed in the near future, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero Waldner said in a news conference held after a meeting with Premier Vlad Filat, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The EU will come with a package of macro-financial assistance that will complement the loan that Moldova will get from the IMF. I cannot say what size the assistance will be, but it will certainly be considerable because Moldova needs an infusion of capital,” the European Commissioner said. Another package of European financial assistance in the amount of 4 million euros will be granted for a parliamentary cooperation program of the EU's Package for Democracy. “Within this program, MPs from different European countries will cooperate with Moldovan MPs and will inform about the implementation of the best standards in the work of the Parliament,” Benita Ferrero Waldner said. Prime Minister Vlad Filat said he agreed with Benita Ferrero Waldner to formalize the problem of the observance of human rights in Moldova. At the news conference, the European official reminded that the first round of talks on a new agreement between Moldova and the EU will start on January 12, 2010. She said the agreement will be multidimensional and will focus on the creation of a comprehensive free trade zone and the liberalization of the visa regime between Moldova and the EU. Benita Ferrero Waldner is paying a working visit to Moldova on November 26 and 27. During her stay, she will have meetings with senior officials and with the leader of the parliamentary group of the Communists Party Maria Postoiko.