Finances

MEMORANDUM ON PROVIDING FIRST TRANCHE OF ASSISTANCE FOR MOLDOVA SIGNED IN BRUSSELS

24 november, 2017

Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip and European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn signed a Memorandum on providing to Moldova the first tranche of macro-financial assistance in Brussels on Thursday.

At the meeting, it was said that the first tranche of 100-million-euro assistance will be transferred to Moldova in the first trimester of 2018. Johannes Hahn said that this money is provided at previous conditions. The second two tranches will be transferred depending on the progress Moldova achieves.

"Election years are always very difficult. Sometimes, they are slowing down the reforms pace, in other cases they may stimulate it. Today we signed a memorandum and after all formalities the money will go to Moldova in the first trimester of 2018. Despite this, the next tranches will depend on the progress Moldova achieves", Hahn said.

As Infotag has already reported, on July 4, the European Parliament approved the decision on issuing to Moldova assistance worth 100 million euros. These should have arrived in three tranches in 2017-2018. 60 million of these will come in the form of credits, while 40 million - as grants. 575 European MPs voted for the decision, 76 - against, 46 - refrained.

With all this, the European Parliament unambiguously recommended the Moldovan Parliament to renounce the changes in the election system in the current political situation. However, after the EP went on vacation, the Moldovan Parliament in defiance of Venice Commission recommendations adopted the amendments to the Election Code and decided to hold next parliamentary elections on mixed voting system in 2018. Due to this, in September and October the European Parliament held new hearings on the situation in Moldova. Despite tough critics against Moldovan authorities, the EU decided to allocate the promised macrofinancial assistance provided all condition are observed. For allocating each of three tranches there are 10 conditions concerning the implementation of concrete reforms. However, due to the occurred situation, the providing of tranches was transferred to 2018.

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