Progress in Implementing the Moldova-EU Association Agreement Discussed in Parliament

The Ministry of Education and Science held a hearing in Parliament on the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. The meeting was organised by the Commission for Foreign Policy and European Integration in cooperation with the Commission for Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sport and Media. The State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science Adriana Cazacu provided information on the institution’s action plans, priorities for the next period and the extent to which the obligations on transposition of legislation under the Agreement with the EU had been fulfilled. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science reported on the developed and approved programme documents. At the same time the information presented also included the reforms carried out on the basis of the provisions of these acts regarding general, technical vocational and higher education. Adriana Cazacu, State Secretary of the Education and Research Ministry, spoke about the quality and transparency of the national examinations in synergy with the principles and values of the European education area. At the same time planned actions stemming from the European Union Association Agenda and the opinion of the European Commission were presented. Among them: efficiency in spending and investment in education, promotion of dual system training programmes and development of digital literacy programmes. It is worth mentioning that the Commission for Foreign Affairs and European Integration launched a series of public hearings on the implementation of the RM-EU Association Agreement. As a reminder, on 4 March 2022, the Republic of Moldova formally applied for accession to the European Union. Subsequently the European Council acknowledged Moldova's European perspective and decided to grant it the status of candidate country for EU accession. In this context the European Commission was invited to present to the European Council a report on the fulfilment of the conditions set out in its conclusions of 17 June 2022 within the periodic enlargement package. The European Council will decide on the next steps once all the conditions are met.