EU refuses to allocate money for Moldova justice reform

Based on Ziarul de Gardă

The European Union has refused to grant Moldova 28 million euros as part of a Justice Reform Program. The reasoning behind the decision was that Chisinau failed to comply with certain conditions, such as Moldoca accepting assistance with reforms.

This sum will not be paid to Moldova’s state budget, and will remain in the EU.

“The EU attentively followed the reform process, and noted that Moldovan authorities displayed insufficient commitment to reforming the justice sector during the 2014-2015 period. With insufficient allocation of funds and personnel, necessary reforms were not achieved. As a result, not enough progress was made,” the message of the European Union delegation in Moldova stated.

The head of the EU delegation to Moldova, Peter Michalco, stated “the EU will continue to support the Moldovans in their efforts to achieve a better future. But now, we are thinking of how we can help citizens in the coming years. We want to give priority to projects that will directly improve Moldovans’ lives”.

The EU has also reduced support for the Moldovan budget in four other areas. It is not yet known when funding will be resumed.

The EU’s decision to suspend justice reform assistance has resulted in a deficit of about 30 million euros. Vladislav Gribincea, President of the Center for Legal Resources in Moldova, spoke to Ziarul de Gardă about the implications. According to him, these funds had already been spent by Chisinau authorities, and that the EU was going to refund these amounts.

Vladislav Gribincea explained that the next two portions of financial assistance for EU justice reforms should have been allocated according to the results of this year’s spring reforms.

“The fact that we did not receive any of these funds seems to indicate that the impact of judicial reforms was inadequate, despite the fact that legislative measures were taken. People don’t feel any changes,” the expert concluded.