The Foreign Ministers of the EU Member States, meeting in the EU Council in Luxembourg, welcomed on Monday 17 June the normalisation of the political situation in Moldova, while remaining vigilant about the future.
After a week of tensions, the Democratic Party finally agreed to hand over power to the new majority coalition formed last weekend, ending a situation that saw the country find itself with two governments (see EUROPE 12272/17).
“We welcome the fact that the political crisis has so far found a peaceful and democratic solution”, said High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini at the end of the meeting. Earlier in the day, Romanian Minister Teodor Malescanu described this as a “positive development”, while his Slovak counterpart Miroslav Lajcak described the fact that there is a government as “good”.
In front of the press, Ms Mogherini also recalled the EU’s “commitment” to the country. Proof of Europe’s commitment, she said, was the visit to the country on Wednesday 19 June by the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn.
However, the High Representative warned that the EU will closely monitor the next steps to see whether the commitments made by the authorities are being implemented. “We will remain very vigilant about the next steps”, Ms Mogherini insisted, encouraging the Moldovan authorities to respect their commitment to work on the reform agenda. Upon his arrival at the EU Council, Mr Hahn warned that he expected the new government to focus on reforms, particularly those concerning the judicial system, and on the bank fraud scandal (see EUROPE 12014/21).
When asked about the release of macro-financial assistance to the country - blocked after the invalidation of the municipal elections in Chisinau (see EUROPE 12056/15) - the Commissioner and the High Representative recalled that there were conditions to be met: the continuation of reforms and the implementation of the Association Agreement. “If the new government can speed up the process (to meet the conditions) - which I believe is easily the case - of course, we are ready to resume funding for Moldova”, Mr Hahn said.
According to Mr Lacjak, the release is probably premature. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)