The government anticipates the European Commission’s report will point to overdue measures in the adjustment of the national legislation to the EU’s, said secretary of the State Chancellery Adrian Băluțel. According to him, the report hasn’t been made public, but the representatives of the government admit that there are a number of legislation harmonization measures have been overdue since 2014, but say that this is the blame of the governments that ruled meanwhile and didn’t make effort to accelerate the process of adjusting the legislation to the Community acquis, IPN reports.
The State Chancellery’s secretary noted that the European Commission’s draft report that was disseminated by the press didn’t take the Moldovan government by surprise as the delays in the harmonization of laws are known, but the responsibility is shifted onto the former governments. According to the report, the legislation harmonization level in Moldova is lower than in Ukraine and Georgia.
“We anticipated the report that appeared in the public sphere, but it shows the state of affairs since April 2022. It is hard to speak about it when we didn’t see the official version of the report. Not even those from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have the draft report. When we filled out the questionnaire, we realized that we have a lot of work to do to eliminate the shortcomings. The European integration process has lasted since the signing of the Association Agreement and a large number of measures have been overdue since 2014. This comparison between the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia is not correct as this is not a comparative report centering on the three states. It shows the made progress and the aspects that need yet to be dealt with,” Adrian Băluțel stated in the talk show “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
“In October, the European Commission for the first time will analyze the preparedness of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia to join the EU. In autumn, the Commission will assess compliance with the nine imposed conditions. The Commission will also assess the harmonization of the legislation. This is an extremely important aspect as it determines the prospects of the accession negotiations,” said the executive director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms Iulian Groza.
When granting the EU candidate status to Moldova, the European Commission recommended fulfilling nine conditions that include the justice sector reform, improvement of the electoral legislation, corruption fighting, de-oligarchization, strengthening of the fight against organized crime and criminal assets recovery, improvement of public administration, protection of human rights, combating of gender-based violence, etc. Representatives of the government said the action plan for implementing the nine recommendations was partially carried out.
“As regards the nine conditions, there are 60 planned measures and 35 of these were to be implemented by December 2022. 71% of those actions were carried out. This is progress. What wasn’t done refers to extensive bills that require public consultations and consolations with the partners. I refer to the week of the pre-vetting commission that lasts longer than we expected. It also goes to the strategy for reforming the local public administration that will be subject to consultations in the immediate period,” said Adrian Băluțel.
The Republic of Moldova and Ukraine obtained the EU candidate status in June 2022. Georgia had then its European accession perspective recognized.
