Peter Michalko: Moldova Demonstrates Regress in Democracy

The head of the EU delegation to Moldova Peter Michalko said that despite the fact that relations between Moldova and the EU are better in comparison with the EU relations with other countries of the Eastern Partnership, there is a regress in the field of democracy in Moldova. When asked why he had previously said that Moldova was successful in the framework of the Eastern Partnership, while Brussels used another term, Peter Michalko stressed that what he said in November last year remaining true today. Moldova, like Ukraine and Georgia, has very good relations with the EU in terms of political association and economic integration, unimedia.info reports. “This level of relations, expressed in the Association Agreement, signed four years ago, also means a high level of expectations. It is true that our bilateral relations have never been linear. Nevertheless, this does not affect our relations now and commitments for the common set of values ​​enshrined in the Association Agreement. This Agreement confirms the commitment of both parties to the mechanisms of democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the rule of law and good governance. This is not just a list of vague principles”, said the EU representative. “Let's consider a specific example, the Republic of Moldova and the EU signed the Memorandum of Understanding and Macro-Financial Assistance in November 2017, with clear expectations that the rule of law and democracy will be observed, but since we saw that our expectations were not met, they were not fulfilled, there were no payments within our macro-financial assistance”, Michalko said. Despite some progress in such sectors, as banking, energy and economic, as well as positive results in the process of implementing Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, Peter Michalko noted a regress in the field of democracy. “The abolition of the democratic elections of the mayor of Chisinau is something unprecedented. We also asked the Moldovan authorities to support budget and economic legislation in accordance with international standards and obligations to the EU and the IMF. We believe that no real reform of the judicial system has been carried out so far, which does not provide the necessary guarantees of independence and professionalism. I see very little progress in investigating, punishing the perpetrators and returning money in a bank fraud case”, the EU representative to Moldova noted. Source: Point.md