European Union Set ‘Red Lines’ for Moldova

While the Prime Minister of Moldova Pavel Filip generously gives comments on the country’s success on the path of European integration, the European Union sends clear messages to Chisinau. Anniversary without gifts On May 14, a conference on the tenth anniversary of the Eastern Partnership program was held in Brussels. Remember that it was launched to intensify cooperation with six post-Soviet states – Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan – in order to integrate these countries into the political and economic space of the European Union. The Eastern Partnership has approached to its first major anniversary with contradictory results. There is clearly no significant progress in democratic values and effective economic transformation in the participating countries. Some republics still have openly authoritarian regimes, while others experience serious problems with corruption, the justice system and the excessive dependence of political institutions on big business. Once the leader of the program, Moldova, has turned from a “success story” into a “captured state”. Despite this, the head of the government of the Republic of Moldova Pavel Filip on the sidelines of the Brussels conference showed optimism, making one loud statement after another. According to him, in ten years Moldova has managed to achieve a considerable number of “concrete successes”, including the visa-free regime with the EU and the Association Agreement. “Within 10 years of the Eastern Partnership, we have made great progress. Thanks to this political project, we have liberalized the visa regime with the EU, signed the Association Agreement with the European Union and Free Trade Agreement. As a result, 70% of Moldovan exports go to the EU market, and more than 2 million Moldovan citizens have used the visa-free regime,” Filip noted. At the same time, the Prime Minister implicitly hinted that such “obvious” successes should be rewarded – first of all, with “clear prospects” for Brussels to make decisions on closer rapprochement of Moldova with the EU and even on joining it. He also stated Chisinau’s “absolute readiness” to continue “reforming” the economy and political system of the country. “Of course, we still have a lot to do. We must fulfill the obligations in the sphere of good governance, democratic standards, harmonization of legislation. Some areas, we must admit, are easier to reform, others are much more difficult. These are comprehensive efforts that take time, but it is important to tell you that we are absolutely determined,” Filip said. EU establishes frameworks for Moldova However, European officials obviously did not share the positive attitude of the Moldovan Prime Minister. European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn pointed out that the unused potential of association agreements exceeds 75 per cent and advised Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova “to focus on this, and not to ask again for something more”. Rather strong statement of the European official, most likely, reflects the true opinion of the EU about the “success” of the Eastern Partnership countries and, first of all, Moldova, as a former leading participant in the program. It is no secret that Brussels has long been dissatisfied with the Chisinau’s conduct, which failed the key European integration reforms in the field of justice, human rights and media freedom, and inefficiently used the allocated European money. However, the European Union reduced the criticism of Moldova after the parliamentary elections and took a rather passive position. As RTA previously wrote, this could be due to the transit of power in neighboring Ukraine the Union put its mind to. Now, after the final completion of the presidential race and beginning of the formation of a new power structure in Kyiv, the European Union, as predicted, turned its attention to Moldova. Abandoning the usual diplomatic rhetoric, the EU envoys put clear emphasis on the shape of the future government and its priorities. For example, at the Brussels conference, Johannes Hahn again stressed the need to investigate the theft of a billion dollars from the banking system of Moldova and punish the perpetrators, which could be “an important step towards rapprochement with the EU”. The head of the EU Delegation Peter Michalko echoed these words; according to him, the population wants to see “investigation of the bank fraud” and “return of stolen money”. He added that the European Union expects Moldova to make progress on “political pluralism and the state of democracy”. “We expect that the new authorities (Government, Parliament), when established, will develop clear commitments with realistic deadlines and will take concrete steps that will show us the existence of a solid political will to correct the recent deviations and for the strong relations of the EU – Moldova Association,” Michalko said. It is interesting that Brussels, in fact, openly intervened in the Moldovan domestic political processes, imposing the condition that “people involved in the theft of a billion” must not be included in the ruling coalition. It is certainly about the convicted MP Ilan Shor and his sham party “Sor”. Many observers regarded it as an indispensable component of the Democratic Party’s projected parliamentary majority. Brussels actively combines clear messages with the only ‘stick’ available to it at the moment, which can be applied to Chisinau – macro-financial assistance. The government of the Republic of Moldova clearly hoped for its resumption in 2019, implementing its pre-election socio-economic projects. However, the EU is markedly reserved in its statements about the prospects of providing money this year. The situation is aggravated by the protracted process of formation of the ruling coalition and authorities, without which the country will never get new subsidies from the EU. The growing attention of the European Union to Moldova obviously confuses the cards of the leader of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc, who still holds the reins of the Moldovan state. The EU is actually pushing people’s buttons by manipulating the financial assistance that Moldova desperately needs to cover the increasing budget deficit. Now the main Moldovan oligarch faces a difficult dilemma: to form a ruling coalition without regard to the opinion of Brussels (with the risk of finally losing European money and support) or to accept the loss of an absolute stake in Moldovan politics.