DP PRESS SECRETARY MAINTAINS EU–MOLDOVA RELATIONS WILL IMPROVE IN AUTUMN

Press secretary of the Democratic Party of Moldova Vitalie Gamurari maintains that in autumn the relations between Moldova and the European Union will rehabilitate.

At the Monday’s public debates on discussing consequences of voting system change, he said that relations with development partners did not worsen, just a certain misunderstanding occurred.

“It is probably about a pause or a small misunderstanding. The DP wants dialog with development partners, it wants to explain the real state of things and, of course, relations will improve in autumn”, Gamurari said.

According to him, the issues of fulfilling the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, the visa-free regime or macrofinancial assistance are technical and legal issues that may be discussed.

“At the same time, the change of election system is a sovereign right of the Republic of Moldova. This decision was adopted with taking into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission, which is a specialized institution in this direction”, Gamurari stressed.

Chairman of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) Igor Botan said that the Venice Commission’s recommendations are a kind of reference point, which is taken into account by all Moldovan partners.

“The Republic of Moldova has completely ignored these recommendations. This is telling. Namely this is characterizing our relations with the European Union”, Botan said.

According to him, citizens should be explained why personal initiative of one politician [Vlad Plahontiuc] became the topic of discussion at the national and international levels and which are the motifs of this situation.

He reminded about the EU statement, made by Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn and Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, stressing that they represent the EU, but not a separate opinion of European Parliament deputies as it is attempted to be presented in Moldova.

“Moldova signed an Action Plan with the EU. This document says that in democratic processes the European Union will have the Venice Commission and the OSCE as partners or the reference point. After signing the EU-Moldova Association Agreement this remained in force and Moldova should not ignore these provisions”, Botan stressed,

Talking about upcoming parliamentary elections, he expressed doubt that they will be fair and correct.

“From my point of view, the Democratic Party committed a mistake, when it promoted mixed election system. At next elections, if these will be fair and free, the Party of Socialists will win. If this happens, it will mean that the Democratic Party made a generous gift to Socialists. If not, the Party of Socialists will challenge the results of elections”, the expert maintains.