On Wednesday 11 December, the ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) approved the proposal for a regulation establishing a ‘Reform and Growth Facility for Moldova’, worth €1.8 billion over the 2025-2027 period, as originally proposed by the European Commission (see EUROPE 13501/17).
“This will support Moldova in implementing crucial reforms, strengthening its institutions, and fostering sustainable economic growth”, said the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, via X.
Several sources have reported changes made by the Council, in particular to make the implementation of the Facility more effective.
At the European Parliament on Thursday, co-rapporteurs Sven Mikser (S&D, Estonian) and Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, Romanian) will present their draft report, which MEPs are expected to adopt in January in order to quickly enter into negotiations with the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 13542/16).
The co-rapporteurs have made a number of changes to the initial proposal. They suggest that Member States, third countries and international organisations should be able to contribute financially to the Facility. While they make no changes to either the envelope or the life of the Facility, they propose that up to 20% of the total envelope could be pre-financed, compared with 7% in the initial proposal. The co-rapporteurs leave it to the Commission’s prerogative to approve the reform agenda drawn up by the Moldovan authorities, but call for several measures to enable the European Parliament to monitor the future budgetary instrument. No funding should support projects that jeopardise the integrity of Moldovan territory.
See the draft ‘Mikser/Mureșan’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/erf (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)