Brussels, 09/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 8 February, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn called on the Republic of Moldova to accelerate implementation of its reforms in order to exit its political crisis.
“Implementation of the reforms must be accelerated”, Hahn said at the end of his meeting with Moldova's Foreign Minister Andrei Galbur in Brussels. Galbur said that he was aware there was much to do to win back trust and credibility with Moldovan citizens and the partner countries. He added that his government is “strongly committed” and “determined” to resume the reform agenda.
In order to help accelerate this move, Hahn and Galbur agreed to amend the reform roadmap so that concrete deadlines might be set in order to accomplish particular measures. The roadmap is “clear”, “it must focus on specific timelines and timetable for actions to be set up”, Galbur said. He added that work will commence “immediately”, in coordination with the EU. He considered that the priorities had to focus on reform of the banking sector and judiciary, the fight against corruption and investigation in the banking fraud. In April 2015, the Central Bank of Moldova announced its discovery that €927 million had disappeared from Moldovan banks.
Hahn stated that it was important to have a stable political situation, enabling the country's development to be continued. Moldova has been going through a political crisis for a year and the new prime minister, Pavel Filip, who was elected on 20 January, is the fifth prime minister the country will have had since the start of 2015.
Hahn and Galbur also hoped that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) might “very soon” visit Moldova to carry out the necessary checks and assessments. If the IMF's report is positive, the EU will be able to resume its payments of macro-financial aid, which are currently on hold. “We are determined to maintain the financial aid at the level reached in the past and this should still be the case in the future, on condition that the political, financial and macro-financial conditions are in place”, Hahn added, stating that this had to be assured by the government and vouched for by the IMF.
Hahn also announced the visit to Chisinau of a Commission delegation of senior level officials to prepare the Association Council that is scheduled in mid-March. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)