The article is available only in Romanian.

The article is available only in Romanian.

On September 1, 2023, the twelfth meeting of the Civil Society Platform European Union - Republic of Moldova was held in Chișinău. During the Platform's meeting was discussed and evaluated the progress Moldova made in fulfilling the 9 recommendations of the European Commission for opening the accession negotiations to the EU. The importance of joint efforts of all stakeholders was reiterated in order to fulfil the commitments undertaken in the field of justice and the fight against corruption, as well as to advance the implementation of all chapters of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova.

Platform members welcomed and appreciated the joint statement of EU and Moldovan mobile operators to reduce roaming tariffs as of 1 January 2024. They also welcomed the announcement of the EU enhanced support package for the Republic of Moldova, which includes support for security and resilience, as well as for strengthening administrative capacity to move Moldova forward on the European path.

The members of the platform welcomed the invitation addressed to the Republic of Moldova to join the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, aimed at strengthening disaster prevention, preparedness, and response in Moldova. They also appreciated the association of the Republic of Moldova with the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) which will attract more EU funding for both Moldovan authorities and companies working in the field of infrastructure, energy and digitalisation. During the discussions, it was mentioned that in the current challenging context, generated by the war in the neighbouring country, the decision to renew and expand the temporary suspension of all outstanding tariffs and the entry-price system that are still applicable to seven agricultural products for another year, until 24 July 2024, is a real support for the Moldovan economy.

As a result of the debates, the members of the Civil Society Platform European Union - Republic of Moldova adopted a joint statement welcoming the progress of reforms by the authorities, and cooperation with EU institutions, but at the same time, reiterated the call on the Moldovan Government to invite civil society representatives to be part of the 35 working groups responsible for negotiating EU accession chapters and to intensify cooperation with civil society in advancing the country on the European path. The declaration also includes recommendations to speed up the implementation process of the Association Agreement, one of the key recommendations being to accelerate the harmonisation of legislation with the EU acquis. The joint statement also calls on the Moldovan authorities to ensure a fair, equitable, and inclusive electoral process for the forthcoming local elections scheduled for November 2023 and encourages the Republic of Moldova to pursue with determination its reform agenda aimed at strengthening democracy and the rule of law.

The event was attended by parliamentarians, European officials, representatives of the Moldovan Government, diplomats, and representatives of Moldovan civil society.

Jānis Mažeiks, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, said "The cooperation with civil society is one of the key values of the European Union. The Republic of Moldova is fortunate to have a vibrant civil society, which is eager to contribute to reforms. More developments are expected, as Moldova is implementing its deep reform programme. Moving swiftly with reforms is of key importance and needs to be balanced with ensuring the effectiveness, thoroughness and transparency of the reforms. The importance of the role of civil society is also highlighted among the nine steps set out by the European Commission in its opinion on Moldova’s candidate status. I would like to commend the Moldovan authorities for their work on enhancing the involvement of civil society in decision-making processes.” 

"Moldova has continued to advance in carrying out reforms, changing legislation, and attaining results as per its commitments to address the 9 recommendations of the European Commission in the context of granting to Moldova the status of a candidate country for accession to the European Union. The European Commission’s verbal interim update on enlargement, presented to member states at the end of June 2023, has recognized the progress Moldova made and deemed that it has fully implemented three out of nine conditions, while most of the work now needs to be concentrated around fighting corruption and organized crime as well as on public administration reforms”, mentioned Stela Leucă, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova.

"The decisions and actions that the Republic of Moldova is taking today to advance on the European path are a prerequisite for a secure, prosperous and democratic future for its citizens. Integration into the EU means, first and foremost for us citizens of Moldova - a state based on the rule of law, more prosperity, and more opportunities for each individual. For this reason, civil society organisations in Moldova will continue to monitor the process of fulfilling commitments undertaken by Moldova with respect to the EU, and to offer all their expertise and capacities to ensure that our European course is irreversible", stated Liliana Palihovici, Co-President of the Civil Society Platform European Union - Republic of Moldova, President of the AO "Institutum Virtutes Civilis".

Dumitru Fornea, Co-President, Civil Society Platform European Union - Republic of Moldova, General Secretary of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Romania, said "The civil society of the European Union supports and welcomes the determined actions of the Republic of Moldova focused on achieving the objectives assumed for a fast as possible European integration, for the modernization of the country, both by developing the infrastructure and by creating new economic, commercial and social opportunities, but especially by creating the necessary conditions to improve the quality of life for all citizens of the Republic of Moldova.”

The meetings of the Civil Society Platform European Union - Republic of Moldova represent an open dialogue and constructive interaction between representatives of civil society, authorities and European officials. The topics discussed during the twelfth meeting focused on progress and challenges in reforming the justice sector, implementing commitments on the human rights dimension, strengthening gender equality and combating violence against women, as well as assessing the progress made by the Republic of Moldova in implementing the Association Agreement and the European Commission's recommendations on Moldova's accession to the European Union.

European officials expressed the European Union's continued strong support for Moldova's efforts to meet all the European Commission's recommendations. The exchange of views and experiences will help to identify best practices and directions for action to accelerate the opening of negotiations on Moldova's accession to the European Union.

The European Union-Republic of Moldova Civil Society Platform was created on the basis of Article 442 of the Association Agreement and is made up of EU civil society representatives, including members of the European Economic and Social Committee and representatives of civil society from the Republic of Moldova, and provides a forum for meeting and exchanging views on issues related to the implementation of the Association Agreement and the development challenges of the Republic of Moldova. The twelfth meeting of the Civil Society Platform European Union - Republic of Moldova was organised in the framework of the project "Civil Society for European Integration" funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is implemented by the Independent Think Tank Expert-Grup, as lead partner, in partnership with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), AO Institutum Virtutes Civilis (IVC) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Moldova.

The full statement presented at the event will be available shortly on the web pages of the organizers and euromonitor.md

For more information, please contact: Agachi Inga, communications manager, Expert-Grup, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , 069 44 56 07.

The article is available in Romanian.

Project title: Financial literacy campaign

Donor: USAID

General context:

Fnancial literacy ensures that the population make well informed financial decisions, which prevents crises and paves the ground for a robust and sustainable economic growth. The crucial importance to raise financial literacy of the population in Moldova is driven both by (i) specific constraints the country is facing are related to the mix between low living standards / low incomes  coupled with low level of financial knowledge (as evidenced by the most recent OECD study on financial literacy, as well as by (ii) opportunities that that 21st century is bringing and that could be tapped by Moldova, are related to the importance of promotion of financial inclusion in Moldova, both in terms of basic financial services (e.g. promotion of non-cash payments, insurance products (property, agriculture etc.) or financial investments (e.g. investments in T-bills), as well as in terms of financial innovations that are shaping at the global and regional levels (e.g. FinTech instruments, capital market investments etc.).

Objectives:

• Create awareness and educate consumers on access to financial services
• Help consumers understand financial concepts that will help them to manage their finances
• Increase financial inclusion of the population and increase non-cash payments.

The full article is available in Romanian.

„Tabăra de educație financiară”, preconizată anul acesta pentru perioada 7-10 august a ajuns la a IV-a ediție. Este un eveniment pe care Banca Națională a Moldovei îl desfășoară în perioada estivală, în parteneriat cu  Centrul Analitic Independent „Expert-Grup” în cadrul proiectului de educație financiară „Dă sens banilor”.

Anul acesta, destinatarii sunt persoanele, începând cu vârsta de 18 ani, care doresc să se inițieze ori să-și  extindă orizontul în domeniul  financiar  pentru a se adapta ușor și în mod firesc la tot ce oferă actualitatea sub acest aspect.

Participanții vor afla ce reprezintă sistemul financiar din Republica Moldova, noile schimbări în supravegherea acestuia, îi vor cunoaște avantajele și ce trebuie să știe pentru a lua decizii financiare corecte. De asemenea, vor descoperi lucruri interesante despre plățile inovative, cum să procedeze pentru a face plăți electronice în siguranță și care sunt tendințele în dezvoltarea comerțului online.

Una dintre sesiuni va fi dedicată persoanelor ce intenționează să deschidă o afacere, precum și celor ce au deja o experiență în acest sens. Astfel, cei interesați vor afla, cum să înregistreze o activitate antreprenorială în Republica Moldova, să acceseze programe de finanțare oferite de stat și să utilizeze instrumente de împrumut fără riscuri de supraîndatorare.

În cadrul acestui atelier de lucru, se va discuta, la fel, despre rolul monedei naționale în economie și vor fi prezentate semnele de siguranță ale leului moldovenesc.

Evenimentul va avea loc în format online, platforma ZOOM.

Persoanele interesate se pot înregistra, completând până la data de 5 august 2023 ora 16.00 formularul on-line, indicând adresa electronică la care urmează să fie expediate datele de acces la eveniment.

Coparteneri în desfășurarea evenimentului sunt Departamentul înregistrare și licențiere a unităților de drept (ASP) și Organizația pentru Dezvoltarea Antreprenoriatului (ODA).

Organizatorii își propun, ca atelierul de lucru să ajute cetățenii să înțeleagă mai bine conceptele financiare pentru a lua decizii financiare bine fundamentate în calitate de consumatori sau antreprenori, în realizarea incluziunii financiare.

Agenda         Formular de înregistrare

The Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), the Independent Think Tank "Expert-Grup" and the Legal Resources Centre from Moldova (LRCM), within the #ThinkTanks4EUMembership initiative and in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in the Republic of Moldova, presented on Thursday, July 20, 2023, during the press conference, the second Shadow Report on the implementation of the Moldova’s Action Plan for the implementation of the 9 steps of the European Commission in the context of Moldova’s EU membership application.

The #MoldovaEUCandidateCheck report reflects the main progress, shortcomings and priorities revised and updated assessment for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. The experts of the three organizations concluded that, by June 30, 2023, most of the planed actions have been fulfilled, with the overall implementation score of 4.24 points out of the maximum of 5 points. Thus, out of 60 actions corresponding to 9 measures provided by the authorities in the Action Plan: 24 actions (40%) have been completed, 25 actions (41.66%) have been implemented with some reservations, 10 actions (16,66%) are still to be implemented, and 1 action (1.67%) has been implemented with substantial reservations.

According to the authors, the best rating – 5 points – is attributed to the public finance management reform (commitment 7), where all actions have been completed.

Commitment 2 related to the implementation of OSCE/ODIHR recommendations in the field of electoral reform was also completed earlier being assessed in the first report with 4 points out of 5. Other actions have not been assessed given that European Commission in its mid-term review in May 2023 considered this condition completed. However, the level of implementation of Venice Commission recommendations was reflected in our 2nd Report under the 1st step/commitment (justice reform).

A visible a progress has been registered in the area of human rights (commitment 9) with 4.75 points, followed by cooperation with civil society (commitment 8) with 4.6 points out of 5. In both areas, all actions have been implemented and some with minor shortcomings. Also, the area of combating organised crime (commitment 5) was assessed with 4.35 points, most actions are implemented, two to be completed.

Some progress was noted in the area of public administration reform (commitment 6), justice reform (commitment 1), both being assessed with 4 out of 5 points, meaning that most of the planned actions were implemented with some insignificant shortcomings. In both cases at least one key action needs to be completed, namely the full functionality of the SCM and SPC in the case of justice reform, and the strengthening of administrative capacity in the field of public administration reform.

In addition, the authorities need to further advance implementation actions on combating corruption (commitment 3) and de-oligarchization (commitment 4), which by end of June 2023 scored 3.77 and 3.7 points, respectively. As a matter of priority in these areas should be clarified the competences between NAC and APO, also APO’s capacities need to be strengthened with a separate budget and human resources to effectively expedite on investigations of high-profile corruption and ensure the implementation of the Plan of measures on de-oligarchisation.

It has to be recalled, that on April 13, 2023, the first Shadow Report #MoldovaEUCandidateCheck was published, which reflected the results of the initial assessments for the period July 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. According to the previous report, the overall implementation score of the 9 septs was 3.8 out of 5 points.

The Romanian and English online versions of the second #MoldovaEUCandidateCheck Report as well as the results of the detailed monitoring are reflected in the interactive dashboard available on the http://www.euromonitor.md/ as well as on www.ipre.md, www.expert-grup.org and www.crjm.org.  

For more details, about the Report watch the video recording of the presentation event here.

Find the interactive presentation of the  #MoldovaEUCandidateCheck report 

Download the report    Download the infographic

The report was prepared within the project "Moldova-EU Candidate Check: 9 steps towards opening accession negotiations with the European Union" implemented by the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), the Independent Think Tank "Expert-Grup" and the Legal Resources Centre from Moldova (LRCM), in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).