MEPs criticised Moldova's democratic decline on Wednesday 14 November.
Petras' report Auštrevičius (ALDE, Lithuania) on the implementation of the Association Agreement (AA), adopted by the European Parliament (396 in favour, 76 against and 186 abstentions), is particularly concerned about the decline of the rule of law, the absence of fair and transparent elections, the partiality of the judiciary, insufficient efforts to combat corruption and money laundering. MEPs recall that the suspension of EU financial support is a consequence of the country's court decision to invalidate the municipal elections of Chișinău (see EUROPE 12056).
Moldova is left “with oligarchic interests, with a concentration of economic and political power in the hands of a small group of people who exert their influence on Parliament, the government, political parties, the public administration, the police, the judiciary and the media”, say MEPs.
MEPs welcome efforts to reform the banking, public administration and public financial management sectors. Efforts that must be continued, they believe.
And while MEPs welcome the 15% increase in trade between the two sides since the agreement was implemented in 2014 and the reduction of non-tariff barriers, they call on the Commission to focus its efforts more on regulatory approximation with the EU, calling on it to provide technical and financial support to Chișinău
Parliament also urges the Moldovan authorities to redouble their efforts to implement the AA. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Hermine Donceel)