The European Parliament approved on Thursday 24 March by a large majority (558 votes in favour, 20 against, 10 abstentions) the granting of macrofinancial assistance of €150 million to Moldova to cover part of its external financing needs.
Tabled in early 2022 (see EUROPE 12861/14), this aid will be broken down as follows: €120 million in loans and €30 million in grants. It will be paid in three instalments until 2024, with the first instalment due this summer.
Macrofinancial assistance is conditional on substantial progress in the implementation of the macroeconomic programme agreed with the IMF, as well as on specific additional measures such as the recovery of assets after the 2014 bank fraud, reforms of public financial management, the judiciary, public procurement procedures as well as the improvement of labour rights.
The Covid-19 pandemic, drought and a gas dispute with Russia’s Gazprom have hit the Moldovan economy hard (see EUROPE 12822/19).
Since 2010, Moldova has benefited from EU macrofinancial assistance of €190 million.
“Moldova is feeling the impact of the war in Ukraine. (...) Therefore, the current macrofinancial assistance is no longer sufficient to cover the funding gap”, said Markéta Gregorová (Greens/EFA, Czech Republic), European Parliament rapporteur on this dossier, in a statement. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)