On Tuesday 4 July, the European Parliament gave its green light (575 votes in favour, 76 against and 46 abstentions) to granting €100 million in macro-financial assistance to Moldova in order to support the country in its economic and political troubles.
The disbursement of the assistance will be subject to the Moldovan authorities' respect of conditions such as budgetary responsibility, the fight against fraud and money-laundering, judicial independence and media freedom.
A specific statement from the EU's three decision-making institutions (Council, Parliament and Commission) underlines the importance of upholding democratic rules such as a multi-party parliamentary system and the rule of law, and guarantees on the respect of human rights.
These conditions will have to be linked to each payment, and the Commission will temporarily suspend or cancel the payments if Chisinau does not respect the conditions.
"This vote confirms that the EU stands by the people of the Republic of Moldova in their hour of need (...) the accompanying reform package has true transformative potential for the Moldovan economy and society", the Parliament's rapporteur Sorin Moisa (S&D, Romania) stated, encouraging the Moldovan authorities "to take the Venice Commission's recent recommendations very seriously", in the context of the debate over electoral reform – which will be the focus of EU monitoring as per the joint statement adopted by the three EU institutions.
On 21 June, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn warned that the disbursement of macro-financial assistance to Moldova would depend on amendments to its draft electoral legislation – a draft criticised by the international community, including the EU (see EUROPE 11814). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)