Some 80% of the content of the Association Agreement between Moldova and the European Union will be implemented provisionally from Octobers 1, before the coming into force of the accord. In its next meeting, the Cabinet is to approve the national plan of action for implementing the agreement for 2014-2016. The announcement was made by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iulian Groza in the first public consultations on the draft plan of action, IPN reports.
The deputy minister said the association agenda with the EU will be adopted in Brussels on June 26. It will contain all the priorities for the next three years. “We will have several months to prepare the implementation of the Association Agreement. Moldova is the only Eastern Partnership country that has such a document ready. We are preparing an online platform that will enable to permanently monitor the implementation of this accord,” said Iulian Groza.
President of East Europe Foundation Sorin Mereacre noted that civil society hasn’t yet understood how the coordination between different approved strategies and the Association Agreement was ensured. “We can say that we have efficient strategies on paper as their implementation leaves much to be desired. We just know that the Association Agreement is to be signed and then ratified and nobody guarantees that the accord will be really put into practice,” he stated.
He added that it is important for the plan of action, especially the agreement concerning the Free Trade Area, to be discussed with representatives of the business community and with farmers because the Association Agreement has been a document for political game and the discussions now, before the parliamentary elections, should center on the technical aspects.
“A lot of work is to be done to implement this accord. I hope the state institutions and civil society realize this. What we did until now represents only a small step. This accord is a basis for improving people’s welfare. But we cannot make progress if we do not remove such constraints as corruption and the obstacles to developing businesses,” said Sorin Mereacre.
The representative of the Rezina-based Regional Development Agency “Habitat” Valeriu Rusu said that the actions in the plan are not concentrated on regions. “We must be very attentive not to inject expensive medicines into the wooden legs of the local administration. The European policies on rural development must be promoted. Activities concerning the common agrarian policy should be added to this plan of action as a pro-European paradigm must be created in regions,” he stated.
He also said that a lot was done in rural areas in Poland before the accession to the EU. Poland’s rural development policy is now one of the best in the EU. The government should focus more on the regions so that the people in villages understand that the European integration is the only chance of getting rid of corruption and of improving the quality of life.
