The presented conclusions will be included in the European Commission’s first Enlargement Report for Moldova, which will be published in the fall of this year. The monitoring period is from July 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025. The following topics will be monitored: democracy; public administration reform; justice reform; anti-corruption; fundamental rights; freedom of expression; security; functioning of the market economy; public procurement; statistics; financial control; social policy and employment.
“The average score of 3.2 across all 12 monitored chapters in the Core Elements cluster indicates that notable progress has been made, but work must continue. Numerous constraints, including limitations related to the institutional capacity of the authorities, are increasingly evident. Low salaries, shortage of staff in public institutions – all these pose a serious challenge given our ambitious program,” remarked Adrian Lupuszor, Executive Director of Expert-Grup.
Another challenge is the divergence of opinions and views in certain areas. They should be harmonized with the European Union legislation and practice, according to the experts of the Independent Center, which plans, on behalf of civil society, to expand the scope of monitoring in the near future to include the roadmaps of preparation for the negotiation process, as well as the Reform Agenda within the EU-Moldova Development Plan, in order to ensure the most important element of the authorities’ accountability – the assessment of the progress achieved.
