On the evening of Wednesday 19 February, representatives of the European Parliament and the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union reached an interinstitutional political agreement on the proposal for a regulation establishing a ‘Moldova Reform and Growth Facility’, which will be endowed with around €1.9 billion (€1.5 billion in loans and €385 million in grants) over the period 2025-2027 (see EUROPE 13582/12).
“This package will help Moldovans to implement key reforms, strengthen their economy and advance its integration to the EU’s single market”, said Poland’s Minister for European Affairs, Adam Szłapka, in a press release.
On Wednesday, European Parliament negotiators obtained from the Member States an increase in the pre-financing of European macro-financial aid to 18% of the total amount, whereas the Council’s initial position limited this pre-financing to 7%.
Moldova will also receive €100 million more in subsidies than initially planned. This margin was generated by an increase in the provisioning for the ‘NDICI’ instrument, which is intended to guarantee the loans that will be granted on advantageous terms (moratorium until 2034, maximum maturity of 40 years, preferential rate). In addition, other donors, such as international organisations, will be able to make voluntary contributions.
It should be noted that 20% of the total grant will be used to help strengthen the Moldovan authorities’ capacity to manage European funds by installing high-performance IT systems, training civil servants and reforming the judiciary.
“With an increase in pre-financing and an overall increase of €100 million in the total allocation, we are ensuring greater immediate support to help Moldova reform, advance its European integration and counter the economic and energy impact of Russian aggression”, welcomed Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, Romanian), co-rapporteur.
In exchange for EU financial aid, the Moldovan authorities will have to draw up, negotiate with the European Commission and implement an investment and reform programme. According to the Council, the Facility will help Chișinău to decouple its energy supply from Russia by fully integrating it into the European market (see EUROPE 13577/18).
In order to authorise the first pre-financing payments at the end of April or beginning of May, the legislative texts must be ratified in March on the European side, with the Moldovan investment and reform programme being finalised at the same time. This timetable should enable the Moldovan authorities to present the first concrete achievements in the run-up to the legislative elections scheduled for the autumn.
Throughout the life of the Facility, the Commission must inform Parliament and the Council before any decision is taken to pay out a tranche of financial assistance.
The Member States’ ambassadors to the EU will discuss the provisional agreement on Friday 21 February. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)