Moldovan PM, European Commission representatives analyse progress achieved, Roadmap

Chisinau, 26 February /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Pavel Filip today had a meeting with Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia in the European External Action Service Thomas Mayr-Harting and European Commission Director-General for EU Neighbourhood & Enlargement Christian Danielsson, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.  

In the context, the prime minister said that the visit by the European Commission Delegation to Chisinau reconfirmed openness and interest in Moldova and thanked the guests for this approach. “It is doubtless that the expectations of EU, development partners and, in fact, of the society, are that we urgently move on priority reform fields. To this end, we have worked out and approved the Roadmap which includes the actions that are to be carried out till 31 July 2016, a term    connected to the end of the parliament’s spring session as well,” Pavel Filip noted.  

The prime minister specified that the areas signaled as problematic coincided with the ones, on the basis of which the government’s work for the first 100 days had been prioritized. The tempo is alert, and at the same time, full of results, the prime minister stressed. Filip also said that, at the 26 and 25 February parliament meetings, the lawmakers had voted more draft laws of major importance – in the first reading: the package of laws on ensuring the independence and powers of supervision of the National Bank of Moldova and the National Financial Market Commission, a set of laws on integrity and some of them in the final reading already: the law on prosecution; law on natural gas and on renewable sources, a package of important laws for the implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.   

The European Commission’s representatives were also informed that the governmental commission for European integration was weekly holding meetings on monitoring the liquidation of arrears in implementing the Moldova-European Union Association Agreement.  

The prime minister also referred to the importance to restart the dialogue with International Monetary Fund. He showed confidence that, jointly with the parliament, the government would manage to fulfill the needed requirements for signing a new agreement with IMF and de-blocking the support programmes on behalf of development partners, including EU. For their part, the representatives of the European Commission Delegation appreciated the cabinet’s efforts for advancing with the reforms’ agenda, including the actions of the Roadmap. They highlighted the EU’s determination to back Moldova in implementing the Association Agreement.   

The officials welcomed a recent approval of a package of laws, describing their enforcement as judicious. Among the principal actions, in the context of preparation for the Association Council, the sides pointed out: advancing in the process of dialogue with IMF, in order to conclude a new Memorandum, reform of the banking system, fighting corruption, justice reform and public administration reform.    

The prime minister confirmed the government’s determination to implement the reforms, which is an essential element to regain the trust of the foreign partners and citizens. At the same time, Pavel Filip underlined that, for the government, the Association Council was an important platform to objectively assess the recorded results and establish priorities for the immediately next period.    

(Editor M. Jantovan)