PACE Reaffirms Concern over Slow Reforms in Moldova

Moldova still has "a slow pace in reforming the judicial system and insufficient progress in the fight against corruption, in particular, in preventing corruption against members of parliament, judges and prosecutors." This is stated in the monitoring report, which was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) yesterday. The authors of the report stated that "the political migration of deputies provoked political instability in the Republic of Moldova", infotag.md reports. The document summarizes the results of monitoring activities in 2020 and gives a number of assessments of the progress of 11 countries monitored by the Council of Europe, including Moldova. The adopted resolution based on the report by Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE), welcomes "the positive changes and progress made, expresses concern about remaining gaps and makes concrete recommendations." The document was adopted at the PACE winter session by 70 votes in favor, 22 against and 18 abstentions. The resolution recommends that "all political stakeholders in Moldova should participate in inclusive dialogue and make the necessary political compromises to ensure that democratic institutions function in accordance with the Council of Europe standards for the benefit of all citizens." PACE also proposes to "urgently adopt legal and constitutional amendments in accordance with the Venice Commission recommendations; increase the independence, accountability and efficiency of the judiciary; update the electoral legislation in accordance with the opinion of the Venice Commission in August 2020, in particular for better regulation of campaign finance; take constructive anti-corruption measures and conduct a thorough investigation of the 2014 banking scandal."