Michalko Criticized Some of the Initiatives the Parliament Adopted

EU Ambassador to Moldova Peter Michalko criticized the law on internal trade and other initiatives recently adopted by the parliament. The diplomat said this on Tuesday speaking at the Moldovan European Integration Forum 2020. He noted that the amendments to the law on internal trade (which provide for the allocation of at least 50% of retail shelves to domestic goods) "contradict the obligations of the Republic of Moldova to the World Trade Organization and regarding the agreement on a free trade zone with the EU,"  infotag.md reported. "If the law comes into force, the EU will be forced to resort to appropriate procedures to resolve disputes in such a situation. Recently, we have seen other initiatives that do not coincide with the obligations undertaken - for example, the bill on the so-called lustration. Here the situation looks absurd. We see a party ("Shor" - "I.") that includes people from the Kroll report who are involved in bank theft, and that we must believe that these people can contribute to the cleansing and de-oligarchization in government institutions, including the National Bank?”, - the diplomat was indignant. He recalled that in "2018, it seemed that relations between the Republic of Moldova and the EU had reached the lowest level," but now it seems that "the political elites of the Republic of Moldova are trying to catch up (to make things even worse -" I.") “Today we see the same controversial figures from the past who are making a political and economic game. We see how reforms, carried out with such difficulty in the last four to five years, for example, in the banking sector, risk ending up in the trash can. Of course, we will continue we will react whenever we see deviations or negative tendencies. We will continue the policy based on strict fulfillment of obligations and use the available levers in the dialogue, "Michalko said. He noted that in the current difficult situation, "Moldova should use all the available chances and leave in the past everything regressive that stopped the reforms." "The EU has proved and proves that it is next to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, that it supports them. This year the EU has provided serious support in the situation of the pandemic crisis, and we will continue our presence, implementing various projects, with all openness, providing support," said the diplomat.