The first installment of the €100 million in macro-financial assistance could reach Moldova next February or March. Under the memorandum of understanding between Moldova and the EU, an assessment will be carried out three months after the disbursement of the first installment and the conditions of the next disbursements will be set. The implementation of the conditions imposed by the EU depends on the Moldovan Government and implementation is the key word when the fulfillment of the conditions for obtaining the money is assessed, said Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT).
In the public debate “Chances of fulfilling the 28 conditions for obtaining €100 million from the EU or How real is the government’s objective to make the European course irreversible until the parliamentary elections?”, staged by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova, Igor Botan, who is the standing expert of IPN’s project, said the memorandum of understanding signed with the EU for the first time contains the 28 conditions and a condition concerning the multiparty system and everyone understands that the EU actually refers to the way in which the electoral system was changed.
“The European Union is ready to support the Republic of Moldova and the European Union regrets a lot the political conditions. It really wants to help Moldova, but the implementation of the imposed conditions depends on the government, which can meet them, I think,” Igor Botan.
He noted that the financial assistance usually serves three causes – balance of payments, budget support and central bank’s reserves. The 28 conditions imposed by the EU refer to the areas of administration, financial sector governance, struggle against corruption and money laundering, reforms in the energy sector, improvement of the investment climate, implementation of the DCFTA. Besides these main conditions, the memorandum of understanding also contains a chapter about the ensuring of a multiparty system and this is a remnant of the debates held in the course of this year on the amendment of the electoral system.
“Many parties promised this, but forgot to ask the people if they really want this,” said Igor Botan, reminding that in the election campaign prior to the elections of 2014, the Democratic Party promised annual investments of US$1 billion. “It was an interesting promise, but this was left aside,” he stated, adding that the electoral system changed on the initiative of the PDM advantages the very rich parties and the Central Election Commission’s reports show which these parties are.
The expert noted the EU wants Moldova to have a favorable investment climate, but says nothing about selective justice, which is not among the imposed conditions. However, the financing for the justice sector reform was stopped by the EU.
Igor Botan reminded that in 2015, when Moldova entered the crisis, the EU financial assistance was halted. At the end of the same year, Moldova asked to resume the financing. It is a practice of the EU to provide macro-financial assistance to the partner states when this is needed on one condition – the country should have an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the parameters concerning this assistance should be agreed with the IMF. The agreement with the IMF was signed in 2016 and the memorandum with the EU was to be signed much earlier in 2017, without any preconditions. However, owing to the problems related to the electoral system change in Moldova, following the debates in the European Parliament, it was decided that an exception should be made in the case of the Republic of Moldova and political conditions should be imposed for signing the memorandum and providing the assistance.
The public debate “Chances of fulfilling the 28 conditions for obtaining €100 million from the EU or How real is the government’s objective to make the European course irreversible until the parliamentary elections?” was the 85th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are organized with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
