COMMISSIONER HAHN ASSURES ACUM LEADERS THAT EU WILL DO ITS UTMOST TO MAKE ELECTIONS FREE AND FAIR

Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn has assured the leaders of the Moldovan opposition voting bloc ACUM Maya Sandu and Andrei Nastase that the European Union will do all in its powers to make the Moldovan authorities respect and observe the international standards of holding free and fair elections.

Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) Chairperson Maya Sandu, who is on a visit to Strasbourg together with DA Platform leader Andrei Nastase this week, wrote in the social networks that in a meeting with Commissioner Hahn they discussed the question most important for the republic at the moment - the ensuring of transparency and honesty of the soon-to-start election process so as to guarantee the citizens' fundamental right to freely elect people's deputies of parliament".

"We informed the European Commissioner about the authorities' growing pressure on the opposition, including even an attempt to put forward parricide charges [judging by the parliamentary investigation into the activities of the "Open Dialog" Foundation]. We also discussed the problem of corruption - one of the main impediments to democracy development in Moldova. We touched also on the need to include European institutions to investigation of the one-billion-dollar bank fraud in Moldova. For this to achieve, the Moldovan opposition have already sent corresponding petitions to the European Parliament and other EU structures", wrote Maya Sandu.

In her words, Commissioner Hahn assured his Chisinau visitors that the European Union will be meticulously following the election process in Moldova and will do its utmost to make the Moldovan election be held according to international standards.