European Commission presents second annual report on Visa Suspension Mechanism with EU

Chisinau, 19 December /MOLDPRES/ - The European Commission is not set to launch the process of suspension of the visa regime for either of the states concerned; yet, the Commission proposes general and special recommendations for each of the states assessed, reads the second European Commission’s report on the Visa Suspension Mechanism with the European Union. The report contains a comprehensive evaluation of the level of implementation of the reference criteria related to the free visa regime with EU for the countries of the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership, the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry’s public diplomacy, strategic communication and media interaction service has reported.     

Referring to Moldova, the European Commission presents its recommendations on strengthening the border control: continuing organizing information campaigns for Moldova’s citizens regarding the rules of travel to the Schengen Area; improving the operational cooperation to cut the number of applications on asylum submitted by Moldovan citizens in an unjustified way in the Schengen Area; adjusting the laws on fiscal reforms to the European Union’s standards; consolidating the National Integrity Authority and implementation of the system of declaring the wealth and personal interests as concerns the high-ranking officials; combating the high-level corruption; investigation of the bank fraud and recovery of the embezzled assets.    

The Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry takes note of the evaluation and recommendations of the European Commission, which showed including the positive developments recorded based on the recommendations of the 2017 Report. The European Commission’s recommendations will be analyzed and included in the national calendar of fulfillment of the recommendations of the European Commission’s report on visa suspension mechanism.   

Note: According to statistics data, 1,837,850 Moldovan citizens holding biometric passports travelled to the Schengen Area on the period 28 April – 31 October 2018, with the total number of travels to the European space standing at 5,514,204 on this period. At the same time, according to data by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), 0.3 cases of refusal of entrance and 0.5 cases of illegal stay were registered on the concerned period.