The conditionality elements are not required by the EU and are not necessary to the EU. They are in the people’s service and focus on adjustment, reformation and support for the people, said Mihai Mogîldea, team leader of the Europeanization Program of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms. “Everyone should realize this so that there are no erroneous interpretations that the EU imposes conditions, while the Russian Federation offers money gratis. No one offers money gratis and this was evident when the Russian loan of €200 million was discussed,” the expert stated in a public debate titled “About the quality of the EU-RM relationship through the angle of the six, old and new conditions” that was held by IPN News Agency.
Mihai Mogîldea said that when a Government does not achieve the expected results and does not fulfill the commitments assumed before the EU, conditionality elements are imposed in order to make them more responsible. It is a method of bringing the Government to the situation when it is obliged to contribute to modernizing, democratizing and reforming the country.
A part of the six conditions formulated as part of the recent €100 million financial assistance agreement were also mentioned in the Memorandum signed in 2017 for providing 100 million in macro-financial assistance. The investigation of the bank fraud has always been at the forefront in the discussions between the EU and Moldova, when any type of assistance is negotiated.
Another condition is to harmonize the Customs Code with the EU legislation. The authorities here are at the final stage – the Government approved a bill that was adopted by Parliament in the first reading and will most probably be adopted in the final reading in September.
As regards the work of the Superior Council of Magistracy, discussions on the issue started long ago. “A series of proposals came from the Venice Commission and there was a rather controversial dialogue last December. The parliamentary majority’s refusal to take into account and include the recommendations of this institution in the bill that was adopted then in the first reading was evident,” he stated.
As to the National Integrity Authority, Mihai Mogîldea said the discussions on this aspect are also older. Since its creation, the Authority has benefitted from European support, but didn’t manage to deliver results, as the EU and the Moldovan citizens expected. The conditionality elements here are strictly related to the actions aimed at determining the integrity of politicians and functionaries.
“It’s clear that the reforms deriving from these conditionality elements weren’t fully done. Therefore, the European Union brought them again into the focus of the Government and the public, saying it wants the efforts to implement these reforms to continue,” stated the expert.
The debate “About the quality of the EU-RM relationship through the angle of the six, old and new conditions” was the 147th installment of the debates project “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
