EU May Unlock First Aid Tranche For Moldova In Coming Months - Lawmaker

Muhammad Irfan Published June 25, 2019 | 01:40 AM

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2019) Moldova may receive the first EU aid tranche in the coming months after proving it is ready for required reforms, Siegfried Muresan, a member of the European Parliament who came to Chisinau on a monitoring mission, said on Monday.

EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn said last week that the European Union might resume financial support for Chisinau if the new government implemented anti-corruption reforms.

According to Muresan, after the talks with the Moldovan government, the monitoring mission saw their readiness to meet the EU conditions, so the first part of a tranche can be paid out in the coming months.

He stressed that after three years in power the government of former Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip had failed to curb corruption, reform the election system and probe a massive banking fraud.

His successor, Maia Sandu, can meet all these conditions and get the whole sum in one year, Muresan added.

In November 2017, Chisinau and Brussels signed a memorandum for 100 million Euros ($112 million) in aid to Moldova, of which 40 million euros were to be transferred through grants and 60 million euros as a subsidized loan. The European Union froze the funding in summer 2018, saying Filip's cabinet made no progress in increasing election and judicial transparency and fighting corruption.