The government is pleased with the way Moldova-EU Action Plan is carried out, while opposition disapproves

Implementation of the Action Plan Republic of Moldova – European Union is developing in normal rhythms and Chisinau managed to cope with its tasks, states the deputy prime-minister Andrei Stratan, also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. While addressing, on May 11, to the Parliament the report of the Governement regarding the implementation of the plan, Stratan declared that at the moment positive results are registered. At the same time the opposition criticized the way the Government implements the requirements of the plan, mentioning that by keeping this tempo the Republic of Moldova will compromise its realization. For about 2 hours, Stratan presented to the MPs the information regarding the implementation of the plan and answered to questions, talking about the collaboration between the institutions of the state in order to fulfill the plan. He declared that during 2005 were undertaken plenty of actions in legal, economic and social areas. According to the minister, this year the collaboration with EU has been intensified. The assistance mission of EU at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border was set up; EU was involved in the Transnistrian conflict settlement process. In economics, in 2005 the economic development indicators were improved, as well as the situation regarding the fight with corruption. “Year 2006 is more difficult, but crucial for the success of the Action Plan implementation, and by extension, for the ambitions of the Republic of Moldova to change the statute of the relationship with EU”, declared Stratan. Among the priorities for this year, the minister specified the continuation of the judicial reforms, reforming the legislation regarding mass-media and audiovisual in conformity with the recommendations of the Council of Europe, fulfilling the necessary conditions in order to facilitate the EU visa regime etc. Realization of these tasks will contribute to integral fulfillment of the plan’s stipulations”, concluded the vice prime-minister. Several MPs from the opposition expressed, though, their pessimism and mistrust regarding the advanced level of collaboration between EU and the Republic of Moldova and as well the ability of the Government to fulfill all the objectives of the plan in the specified time limits. Some of them talked about “double standards policies” and “anti-European attitude” of the state’s leadership and of the leading party, as well as the worry voiced by EU regarding slow reformation rhythms of Moldova. The leader of the “Moldova Noastra” Alliance, Serafim Urecheanu declared that the report regarding the implementation of the joint Plan expresses the ambiguity of the present government, being “a superficial conclusion of the accounts of the Government’s subdivisions, without any estimation or real conclusions”. According to Urecheanu, the Plan is only a document of intentions. The major objection of the faction is that the implementation of the plan does not lead to expected results, representing a mime that lacks interior motivation. The leader of AMN states that the present government shares other values than democratic or European – fact that is confirmed by the refuse to sign the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that condemned the crimes of the totalitarian communist regimes. The lack of sincerity could sabotage the future European integration, contrary to the declarations of the Government and the report of the Government shows the incapacity of the state’s leadership to put beyond doubt the intern or external expectations regarding the Republic of Moldova, added the quoted source. “We are demanding the government to accelerate these processes, to recover the lost time and to take upon itself all the political responsibility”, ended Urecheanu. The MP of the Social Liberal Party faction, Oleg Serebrian said that the big majority of the successes are belonging to the European Union and not to the Republic of Moldova. “We are in face of a distortion of the proposed Plan implementation schedule, and the actions that must be undertaken by Chisinau firstly is to be more consistent in the relationships with the European Union, because in many countries of EU its credibility equals to zero” declared the leader of SLP. On the other hand, the communist MP, Segiu Stati, qualified the report as correct, blaming the opposition of “non-constructivism”. The Action Plan Republic of Moldova – European Union was signed on February 22 2005 and is funtioning for a period of three years. Cesare de Montis, the head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Moldova, declared that EU is pleased with the Plan’s implementation in the first year, but there is room for more”. “We are not expecting only efforts but also results”, said the ambassador, mentioning that more actions in the areas of human rights protection, fighting corruption and judicial system reform are necessary.