A modest progress was observed in the area of human rights, while planned actions are implemented with delay. The efforts in the justice reforms were concentrated on adopting some strategic documents and working out draft legislative and normative acts, but their promotion and adoption are late. A moderate progress was observed in the reforms of the Central Public Administration and Local Public Administration, mostly related to the adoption of some legislative-normative documents and discussion of some draft strategic documents. No major progress was observed in the area of trade statistics and consolidation of administrative capacities. A reasonable progress was observed in the area of tariff and nontariff barriers, as important actions were implemented in due time. Although only three actions were planned in the area of sanitary and phytosanitary standards, just one of them was successfully completed – drafting a food security strategy of Moldova. In the area of financial services, a pretty good progress was generally observed, as competent authorities succeeded to respect the preset action plan.

Moldova makes a slow progress forward protection of human rights and freedoms. Although the country kept improving the legal framework on respect and protection of human rights, Moldova did not consolidate the human rights protection mechanisms. Progress in reforming the judiciary and related fields is slow, efforts are focused mainly on drafting laws and regulations, while their promotion and adoption is delayed, which reduces the potential impact. A moderate progress was observed in terms of central public administration and local public administration reforms, and it was mostly related to the adoption of some legislative-normative documents and discussion of some draft strategic documents, while actions in these areas are not based on adequate planning policies. In the area of technical barriers for trade a modest progress has been registered, as the actions of the plan are implemented in a selective manner and priorities are revised post factum. The progress in implementing actions in the area of trade facilitation and customs management are slow, as some actions are late.

Moldova registered a modest progress in the following areas: human rights, general coordination and consolidation of administrative capacities, access of goods on the market, tariff and nontariff barriers, technical barriers for trade, trade facilitation and customs administration, competition. A low progress has been noticed in justice reform, rules of origin, intellectual property rights, and public acquisitions. At the same time, the authorities registered a good performance in the area of financial services.

Edition no.18 of the Euromonitor shows that Moldova registered important progress in the area of democratic institutions, in terms of adjustment of the elections’ regulatory framework and the legislation regarding the political parties to the recommendations of the Council of Europe. In the human rights domain, the Council of Europe finalized the monitoring on the issue of religions’ freedom. The reform of the central public administration progresses modestly. Some improvements can be noticed in the justice system. However their impact is very limited, at least, as perceived by the society. Although a series of progresses have been registered in the social sphere, the main problem remains in limited financial resources necessary for improving the situation on the labor market, social protection, public health and other important areas. In the domain of foreign trade, there are no major progresses in implementation of sanitary standards necessary for more fully exploit the Autonomous Trade Preferences granted by EU in March 2008.

In the area of democratic institutions, in October-December 2009 the Government registered some progress in terms of amending some restrictive stipulations of the Electoral Code, consolidation of the dialogue with the civic society, slight improvement of mass-media freedom, access to information and transparency of the decision-making process. The political changes did not destabilize the public administration. However, the process of restructuring of some central structures as a result of starting the activity of a new Government, hampered, to a certain extent, the implementation of the central public administration reform. The new Government did not have much time for addressing all the important economic issues accumulated at the end of year. Still, the first steps have been done. First of all, the Government has elaborated the Program for Stabilization and Economic Recovery of the Republic of Moldova for 2009-2011. At the same time, a new Agreement with IMF has been negotiated, which is one of the most difficult and important actions aimed at economic stabilization and recovery.

The political sphere in the third quarter of this year is dominated by the process of power shift and consolidation of the bilateral relations with the European Union. The political conflict after the April 5 elections, the new electoral campaign and the slow process of creating new institutions affected the pace of administrative reform. Coupled with the economic crisis repercussions, it spurred the uncertainty about the current public policies. The period of political instability did not allow the implementation of some measures to support the companies, which, on the grounds of worsening public finances, increases the probability that the firms’ expectations will be hardly met by the Government.

The political dialogue and the functioning of democratic institutions, during the second quarter, have been strongly affected by the post-electoral events, especially those from the 7th of April. The bilateral relations between EU and Moldova were dominated by issues related to the political crisis in Moldova and violation of human rights after the elections from the 5th of April. The functioning of democratic institutions dramatically worsened on the grounds of application of torture against people arrested by the police, expulsion of foreign journalists, limitation of the access to information, these are just few infringements made by the public authorities after elections. The economic crisis aggravated in comparison to the previous quarter, given the political crisis and the new electoral campaign. The economic development did not constitute an important priority on the Government’s agenda. The anti-crisis program has been published only in June and does not contain credible measures which would improve the situation in the real sector, stimulate the consumption and mitigate the negative effects on the labor market.

The dialogue between Moldova and the European Union, during the first quarter of 2009, has been characterized by a constant trend. Some moderate evolutions were registered in the area of democratic institutions. Among the most important ones can be mentioned: consolidation of the legislation related to the rights of children, employees and prisoners, actions by the Ministry of Justices aimed at improving the conditions for prisoners, supporting the dialogue between the civic society and public institutions through involvement in discussions on public policies. At the same time, the previously reported issues persist and some of them even aggravated on the backgrounds of the electoral campaign of 2009. In the economic sphere, the evolutions were marked, on the one hand, by the world economic and financial crisis, and, on the other hand, by the pre-electoral period which made the Government’s actions to be not consistent with the real needs of the economy.

Reports in the "Euromonitor" series aim at an independent and objective monitoring of the process of implementation of the Republic of Moldova – European Union Actions Plan. This report monitors the actions taken and implemented by both parties in the fourth quarter of 2008. Moldova’s inclusion in the draft Eastern Partnership, a new EU initiative aimed to deepen relations with former Soviet neighbours, was the key achievement.  Additionally, there were meetings of EU-Moldova cooperation bodies, visits by Moldovan and European officials to Brussels and Chisinau, bilateral meetings with high-ranking officials from EU member states. Multiple diplomatic efforts in the period concerned failed to resume the “5+2” negotiation process. On the economic side, the fallout from the world economic crisis is increasingly more present in Moldova.

"Euromonitor" aim at an independent and objective monitoring of the process of implementation of the Republic of Moldova – European Union Actions Plan. This report monitors the actions taken and implemented by both parties in the third quarter of 2008. The dialogue between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union was rather diffident, particularly on behalf of the European Community, which has repeatedly notified Moldovan authorities over the degrading democracy and freedom of expression in the country. Economic evolutions in this period were influenced by the July-August flooding, which generated unplanned expenses from the state budget and diverted funds from other sectors and priorities. However, given the pre-electoral year, the Government has decided to increase salaries of some categories of budgetary employees, social allocations and certain compensations.