The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) will be assisted by a new EU senior adviser on international policies from June 7. Aivars Ostapko was chosen following a contest staged by the European Union Delegation in Chisinau to support the PGO in the institutional modernization and reformation process, IPN reports.

According to the press office of the PGO, the new adviser is of Latvian origin and has worked for the prosecution service of Latvia for 15 years. He will work alongside Moldovan prosecutors to accelerate the institutional reforms.

During the first month of work at the PGO, the adviser will work out a plan of action after studying the system and the new legislative provisions that regulate the work of prosecutor. According to the European expert, this will enable to lay the foundations of a project that is to be implemented during a year. The adviser will monthly compile detailed reports where he will note both the results and the future priorities with a view to ensuring the proper implementation of the project and dealing with the initiatives to reform the prosecution service of Moldova by cooperation.

Acting prosecutor general Eduard Harunjen expressed his conviction that the expert will meet the institutional expectations because he was thoroughly chosen based on requirements formulated by specialists from different European states. “This support will be very welcome, especially in the current conditions, when solid reforms were initiated within the prosecution system,” he stated.

According to him, the adviser’s experience will bring a fresh approach to the problems faced by the Moldovan prosecutors in their work so as to ensure functional mechanisms and changes.

After experts Holger Helmbach and Virginijus Sabutis, Aivars Ostapko is the third EU adviser that assists the PGO in the institutional reformation process.