The EU peer review mission of rule of law institutions presented its recommendations. Among these are to ensure the independence of the National Integrity Commission and the National Anticorruption Center and to make the heads of institutions responsible for the implementation of the national anticorruption strategy. The recommendations were presented in a final conference on May 27, IPN reports.
Following a request of the Moldovan Parliament and Government, the European Union organized an assessment exercise of several Moldovan institutions, including the National Anticorruption Centre, National Integrity Commission, Constitutional Court, General Prosecutor’s Office, National Institute of Justice, Superior Council of Magistracy, etc. The goal of this exercise was for European experts from peer institutions to provide an assessment, followed by recommendations, of the Moldovan institutions they will visit. The exercise involved 13 experts of the EU TAIEX instrument.
Among the recommendations is to allow sequestrating criminal assets based on a judicial procedure, including in cases when the apparent owner cannot explain how these were acquired. The experts also recommend introducing clear instructions that would regulate the procedures and criteria for selecting judges by the Supreme Council of Magistracy, while all the Council’s decisions should be motivated. The experts noted that the option of naming judges of the Constitutional Court for a second term in office should be categorically avoided in the future.
The Europe experts ascertained that the justice sector needs enough money to maintain the buildings of the courts of law. To improve the quality of legal competence, the number of judges in lower courts of law should be increased. A complete and partial investigation into the circumstances related to the random distribution of cases should be conducted.
EU Ambassador to Moldova Pirkka Tapiola said many of the recommendations of the experts need political will for being implemented. The peer review mission represents not the EU policy, but the strict view of the law experts.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Liliana Palihovici said the legislature’s agenda includes ten more laws that need to be adopted for advancing the justice sector reform. But the vote in Parliament is not enough for reformation. “Parliament will analyze these reports together with the assessed institutions and will debate step by step the made recommendations,” she stated.
Minister of Justice Vladimir Cebotari said the justice sector reform is a top priority for the current government. At this stage, some of the changes following the justice sector reform can be seen already and this shows that authorities’ efforts produce results.
TAIEX is the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission. TAIEX supports public administrations with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation as well as facilitating the sharing of EU best practices.
