The electoral process in Moldova is not over. The EP position on future EU-Moldova relations will be drawn up after the OSCE/ODIHR final report.
Yesterday, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament held an exchange of views to debrief the Election Observation Mission to the parliamentary elections held in Moldova on 24 February 2019. 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 Chair of the EP Election Observation Mission to Moldova, and Mr. Petras Auštrevičius (ALDE, LT), Parliament‘s rapporteur on Moldova, issued the following statement:
"We recall that, in our last resolution on Moldova in November 2018, the European Parliament “reiterated its position that any decision on future MFA [Macro Financial Assistance] disbursement should only take place after the parliamentary elections (...) and on condition that they are conducted in line with internationally recognised standards and assessed by specialised international bodies, and that the payment of all budget support programmes should remain on hold until meaningful progress in democratic standards takes place (...)".
We take note of the preliminary statement of findings and conclusions by the International Election Observation Mission composed of the OSCE/ODHIR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament (EP) as well as of the complementary remarks by the Chair of the EP mission, Ms Rebecca Harms. Both highlight positive elements and significant shortcomings.
The electoral process in Moldova is not over. We need to observe how the Moldovan authorities deal with the complaints and appeals procedures and how a majority is formed in the Parliament. Notably, we ask: will that process be transparent and void of pressure exerted on the newly-elected MPs? Will all MPs be able to take up their mandate? Some of these issues will be covered by the final observation report to be published by the OSCE/ODIHR in about 7 weeks.
Therefore, the European Parliament will, at this stage, not make any assessment on the consequences of the elections on future EU-Moldova relations. This position will be drawn up later, on the basis of the final OSCE report, once the electoral process is fully over.
In the meantime we will remain very attentive to developments in Moldova."
