Chairs and Rapporteur denounce backtracking on democratic standards in Moldova and call for an immediate end to the political interference in the Judiciary and in the conduct of elections.
Today, the Committee on Foreign Affairs debated the latest developments in Moldova. After the debate Mr. David McAllister (EPP, DE), the committee Chair, Ms. Rebecca Harms (Greens, DE), the co-president of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, and Mr. Petras Auštrevičius (ALDE, LT), Parliament‘s rapporteur on Moldova, issued the following statement:
"We are very concerned about the recent decision by the Chisinau court which decided, on dubious grounds and in a non-transparent way, not to confirm the legality of the recent local elections of the mayor of Chisinau.
Political interference in the Judiciary and in the conduct of elections is contrary to European standards to which Moldova has subscribed, notably as a party to the EU-Moldova Association Agreement.
We remind the authorities in Moldova about the joint statement of 4 July 2017 by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, attached to the decision to provide macro-financial assistance to Moldova, according to which “a pre-condition for granting macro-financial assistance is that the beneficiary country respects effective democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party parliamentary system and the rule of law and guarantees respect for human rights”.
As shown by both the last electoral reform and the latest developments in Chisinau, this pre-condition is, at this stage, not met.
We urge the Moldovan authorities to take immediate action to ensure that the Rule of Law prevails in the management of the outcome of the local elections and in the run up to the upcoming parliamentary elections later this year.
We also urge the authorities to resolutely crack down on corruption and to swiftly deliver results in the investigations into the $1 billion bank fraud revealed in 2014. Here too, political leaders should allow the Judiciary to work independently.
The European Parliament will remain very attentive to the situation in Moldova and will draw up a report assessing the implementation of the Association Agreement, to be voted upon before the end of 2018".
