“The EU is waiting for the justice reform in Moldova”. Ambassador Peter Michalko told about the conditions for obtaining macro-financial assistance for Moldova

The EU expects the Moldovan authorities to find an opportunity to accept the voting results in the election of the mayor of Chisinau, stated the EU ambassador in Chisinau Peter Michalko and added that Moldova met all the technical conditions for obtaining macro-financial assistance, however, this violation led to the freezing of the first tranche. During the interview for Europa Libera the ambassador noted that the Moldovan authorities do not always do their “homework”. “Justice reform has not yet been implemented. Because of this the decision to cancel the results of elections contradicts the principles of the rule of law and democracy standards, although these are principal provisions of the memorandum signed by Moldova for obtaining macro-financial assistance”, he added. At the same time, Michalko noted that the EU will continue to support Moldova. “We have more than 140 joint projects for the moment and all of them continue. But what happened shows the need for justice reform”, he stressed. The ambassador also noted that the European authorities have never demanded from the Moldovan authorities to influence the court’s decision on the cancellation of the elections. “We mentioned just the fact that the court’s decision contradicts the commitments assumed by Moldova”, added Michalko, noting that all EU requirements are clearly stated in the joint declaration of Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. It should be recalled that during the session on June 25 the Supreme Court of Justice of Moldova rejected the claim of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party leader Andrei Nastase and upheld the decision by the court of first instance and by the Appeals Chamber that supported it: the voting results in the election of the mayor of Chisinau were annulled. The Supreme Court of Justice decision is final and binding. In addition, one cannot file a lawsuit against this decision to the European Court of Human Rights: it does not accept applications concerning the conduct of elections. After that the EU announced the first tranche of macro-financial assistance would be frozen. Source: NewsMaker