The European Commission will not hurry to allocate the first tranche of the €100 million in macro-financial assistance and will wait to see Chisinau’s response to the recommendations of the Venice Commission, considers MEP Petras Auštrevičius, rapporteur for Moldova on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“We expect that the European Council will accept this decision on purely macro-economic reasons, but we also have a political agreement between us and, I hope, all the EU institutions and we cannot ignore the political criteria (for providing the assistance). Now that the ‘trialog’ is over, we expect that the final recommendation of the Venice Commission will be published on Friday and we will then see how Chisinau behaves,” Petras Austrevičius stated in an interview for Radio Free Europe, quoted by IPN.
Asked if he is sure that the European Commission will really honor the political agreement between the three European institutions, the MEP said there are particular contacts with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. “As far as I know, we have the same perception of the importance of the political criteria. I expect that this understanding and this perception will be the common principle in the behavior of all the EU institutions towards Moldova, and this will be solely for a better future of Moldova,” said Petras Austrevičius.
He also said it’s clear that no money will be disbursed to Moldova earlier than September, but it surely depends on Chisinau’s answer to the recommendations of the Venice Commission. “If Chisinau pretends not to see the recommendations, the events will develop in a particular way. If there is a constructive dialog with the Venice Commission, the European Commission and other institutions, we can expect something different,” stated the MEP.
On June 15, EU ambassadors endorsed an agreement reached with the European Parliament on macro-financial assistance for the Republic of Moldova. The assistance will be aimed at supporting the country’s economic stabilization and structural reform agenda, helping to cover its external financing needs over the 2017-18 period. Of the total assistance, €60 million was agreed in loans and €40 million in the form of grants.
