MPs say Chisinau hasn’t fully fulfilled commitments under EU-Moldova Action Plan

MPs believe that Moldova has failed to fully implement the EU-Moldova Action Plan by November 17, the day designated by Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev as the deadline for the Plan’s execution. [MP Anatol Taranu] told Info-Prim Neo that Moldova has a many shortcomings in this direction and the attempt to report that the Plan was fulfilled ahead of schedule, in the spirit of the socialist competition, is simply irrational. We are dealing with a very serious document which could place Moldova on the path of European integration, yet Moldova is still lagging behind, the MP concluded. [MP Oleg Serebrian, Member of Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy and European Integration] stated that the opinion of the European Commission is pretty much reticent of Moldova’s progress in implementing the Action Plan. There are deficiencies in a range of areas, including justice and human rights which are very sensitive topics. We are yet to see how the relations between Moldova and EU will develop from now on, but most probably we’ll have the same plan completed and prolonged, Serebrian said. [MP Serafim Urecheanu, member of the same committee] stated that EU-Moldova Action Plan will not be fulfilled even three years after its signing, on February 22, 2008. The government presents triumphal reports but Brussels’s position shows something different, though not criticising directly the way the Plan is implemented, the cited source asserts. According to Urecheanu, EU-Moldova Action Plan is discredited, especially in areas related to the justice system reform, foreign relations and economic reforms. In his opinion, either the deadline of the present term will be prolonged or another plan signed. [Communist MP Grigore Petrenco, head of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations and European Integration,] refused to talk to Info-Prim Neo. At the end of September, PM Vasile Tarlev requested the National Commission on European Integration to hasten the implementation of the EU-Moldova Action Plan until November 17, although the negotiated deadline is March 1, 2008. [Political analyst Andrei Popov, executive director of the Foreign Policy Association] commented that the ahead-of-five-year-plan-type statements about fulfilling the commitments under AP by November 17 have raised a few eyebrows in Brussels and have showed that what really matters for Chisinau is putting some marks on the score sheets rather than the essence of the reforms.