While on an official visit to Strasbourg, Prime Minister Pavel Filip on June 26 met with European officials. In the discussions with the President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Guido Raimondi, the Premier said that Moldova aims to contribute to facilitating the examination of applications submitted to the Court by Moldovan citizens and to diminishing the number of applications under examination by delegating secondary jurists, IPN has learned from the Government’s press service.

Guido Raimond said the delegation of secondary jurists will increase the efficiency of case examination at the ECHR. It should be noted that the number of new cases against the Republic of Moldova pending at the Court is lower compared with the previous years. The two officials agreed to continue the discussions during the ECHR President’s visit to Chisinau this October. In 2016, the ECHR found Moldova guilty in 23 cases and awarded about €130,000 in damages in these cases.

The cooperation in strengthening local democracy and in implementing programs to facilitate the decentralization and optimization of governance at the local level was discussed in the meeting of Pavel Filip and President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRA) of the Council of Europe Gudrun Mosler-Tornstrom.

A separate subject for discussion was the implementation of the roadmap of the post-monitoring process that was worked out during a visit by the Congress’ delegation to Moldova in July 2015. It was underlined the utility of the recommendations and expertise in the current efforts to promote decentralization and increase the level of local self-government in the Republic of Moldova.

In the meeting of the Moldovan Premier and the Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Antonio Gutierrez, the letter encouraged the Moldovan authorities to continue to reform the justice sector, to fight corruption and to strengthen the rule of law.

The officials also discussed the reform of the electoral system. Pavel Filip noted that most of the recommendations of the Venice Commission will be taken into account so as to ensure the observance of the democratic norms and to prevent any type of abuse.