Politics

EU DELEGATION HEAD CALLS ON MOLDOVAN AUTHORITIES TO HOLD ON TO DEMOCRACY STANDARDS

16 february, 2018

Ambassador Peter Michalko, Head of the European Union Delegation to Moldova expressed concern that the country’s central authorities exert pressure on local administrations and that there are cases of persecuting political opponents.

Speaking at a local private TV channel on Thursday night, he said that 2018 is a special year – the year of parliamentary elections and it is very important that these to be correct and democratic.

“For this the standards of democracy, human rights and freedoms should be observed. Only in this case the new level of political culture may be achieved, when there will be an open, fair, equal political competition”, Michalko said.

According to him, Moldova has to get rid of these phenomena from the past, connected with criminal cases and pressure on political opponents.

“When the country faces a difficult transition period, accompanied by the economic and other reforms with social consequences, people should feel that they live in a fair society”, the diplomat said.

He expressed concern that people face pressure due to their political affiliation or their activity in local administration.

“We know that local law enforcement structure and the prosecution system, as well as the justice system are involved in this, criminal cases are initiated against them, they are threatened that they or their relatives will lose jobs, other types of pressure are exerted. Such methods are unacceptable in a democratic society”, Michalko said.

According to him, these issues should be resolved together with civil society to create a firm basis for democratic transformations. He spoke for close dialog of Moldovan authorities with the civil society, calling on authorities to regard the civil society as a partner, which gives a truthful expertise of what authorities are doing for country citizens’ benefit.

“The civil society, especially its numerous representatives, who work in rural area and in regions, want to make people’s lives better, to facilitate the resolving of problems in their daily life”, the diplomat said, comparing the civil society with a mirror, in which real deeds of authorities are veritably reflected.

Michalko diplomatically avoided the issue, when asked to assess the dialog between Moldovan authorities and the country’s civil society. He just said that assessment is usually done at the end of the year or even better – at the end of the mandate.

“I witnessed the authorities’ yearning for dialog with the civil society, though not always this dialog was as the very public activists wanted it to be”, he said.

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