Peter Michalko: “Over the Last 10 Years, the European Union Has Allocated More than a Billion Euros to Moldova

Over the past 10 years, the Republic of Moldova has received more than a billion euros from the European Union. This stated the head of the EU Delegation Peter Michalko. In an interview, the European diplomat explained the way financial assistance provided by the EU to Moldova is distributed and what are the conditions imposed by Brussels for the Republic of Moldova to receive this money, agora reported. “The EU assistance is enormous and the RM has been using it for many years. Over the past 10 years, a billion euros have been received through various programs and instruments that the EU uses to support the countries it cooperates with. Our relations between the EU and the Republic of Moldova have developed and now, with the Association Agreement, they have reached a fairly high level at which the instruments used to provide assistance are different. There are programs that have already stared. These are new or planned programs, and these are those that were delivered urgently, for example, during the coronavirus crisis, in which the European Union reacted and provided support to Moldova and other countries in the world, other partner countries. It is clear that the EU is the Republic of Moldova’s strongest and primary partner supporting it as generally and as in this crisis situation,” Michalko said. EU assistance to Moldova during the COVID-19 pandemic “Just when this coronavirus pandemic broke out, the EU reacted immediately and very strongly offering our Eastern Partnership partners which are six countries, including the Republic of Moldova, an immediate aid package of € 30 million for medical stuff, € 11 million for civil society. 100 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises immediately and in the near term, in the short and medium term a package of 700 million euros, which consists of two elements: one of them is intended to support SMEs (200 million euros) and 500 million guarantees for companies in general. In the lending process, banks can more easily disburse loans so that firms can continue to operate. Along with this package for six countries, another 87 million package consisting of existing and future projects that are ongoing or planned in the RM has been announced. This means that in our projects across the country, and we have about 150 ongoing projects each time, some of the resources have been redirected to meet the immediate needs related to COVID. It was the purchase of the necessary material, you saw that we had several batches of materials that were given to those who can use them with our parents - UNDP, UNICEF - we had some of the materials purchased by our program "Confidence Building Measures" and from this material we were able to support people on the right bank and on the left bank of the Dniester,” the EU Ambassador said. The second component in this 87 million package meets the needs of a business or SME.