The European Commission withheld financial assistance for Moldova on Wednesday after the country’s Supreme Court last week cancelled the Chisinau mayoral elections.
The European Commission on Wednesday blocked financial assistance for Moldova after the country’s Supreme Court and the Electoral Commission last week cancelled the mayoral elections in the capital, Chisinau.
“The disbursement of the first tranche under the current Macro-Financial Assistance programme has … been put on hold,” the European Commission told BIRN on Wednesday.
“A Commission assessment undertaken together with the European External Action Service has found that the political preconditions have not been fulfilled.
“This assessment is based on the recent political events in Moldova and, in particular, the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of 25 June on the invalidation of election results in Chisinau,” the spokesperson explained.
As in the case of other countries that signed association agreements with the European Union, disbursements under the Macro-Financial Assistance programme are linked to the successful implementation of specific economic measures, but also to political preconditions related to respect of democratic mechanisms, the rule of law and human rights, the Commission official added.
Moldova is set to receive 100 million euros in macro-economic assistance from the EU. The first payment was scheduled for July this year.
The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, met Moldova’s Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, on Tuesday in Strasbourg.
A press release from the Moldovan cabinet said Hahn told Filip during the talks that no decision on transferring the EU funds had yet been taken.
Moreover, Filip said that political developments in Chisinau should not impact on practical cooperation between Moldova and the EU.
Hahn criticised Moldova’s lack of judicial and administration reforms in May and said that the country would only get the EU money if the government dealt with the two problems.
The EU and Moldova signed a package in Brussels that entitled Moldova to receive macro-financial aid of 100 million euros in November 2017.
The country of 3.5 million people was to get 40 million euros in the form of a grant and 60 million as a loan.
The first installment was due to arrive by the end of 2017 but was postponed due to lack of progress in the justice and corruption areas.
Last week, Moldova’s Supreme Court upheld an earlier court ruling that cancelled the June 3 mayoral elections in Chisinau, won by the pro-European candidate, Andrei Nastase.
The Electoral Commission decided not to schedule a new vote because nationwide local elections are less than a year away.
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