Brussels, 26/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - During a European Parliament plenary session debate on Wednesday 25 November, MEPs and Commissioner Christos Stylianides urged the political parties in Moldova to come to agreement on forming a government and to bring in the necessary reforms.
“We continue to call for dialogue to find a lasting solution and to address the most urgent concerns”, said the commissioner, speaking on behalf of the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. MEPs and Commissioner Stylianides alike regretted that Moldova, seen a year ago as a shining example to the Eastern Partnership, had, in the space of 12 months fallen from grace. “It is not surprising that reform is at a standstill, with government changing as quickly as the seasons”, stated Petras Austrevicius (ALDE, Lithuania): the country is looking for its fifth prime minister in 2015 alone. He called on the political class to wake up and show a sense of responsibility.
In this view he was joined by Elmar Brok (Germany) for the EPP and Andi Cristea (Romania) for the S&D. Cristea argued that greater responsibility had to be shown by politicians and that the political classes had to show themselves worthy of the people's confidence. For that, politicians would, as a matter of priority, have to reform the legal and administrative systems, tackle corruption and investigate the disappearance of almost €1 billion from the country's banks, MEPs said. “Political power and economic power do not simply go hand-in-hand, they merge”, lambasted Helmut Scholz (GUE, Germany).
“This political bankruptcy could harm the reputation of the EU”, regretted Bas Belder (ECR, Netherlands), making the point that the EU should consider its political alliances. Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFFA, Finland) stated that a recent survey had revealed that only 30% of Moldovans would vote to join the EU. She suggested that this figure could be explained by the fact that the EU was being used as a cover for poor practices in everyday politics.
Stylianides said that the EU would stand ready to continue to support Moldova but that only its political leaders were able to address the challenges facing the country. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)