MOLDOVA. Chisinau does not meet European requirements
The Moldovan Defense Ministry said on Jan. 10, Germany handed over a batch of Piranha armored vehicles to the Republic’s National Army on Jan. 10, the delivery of which is set out in a 2021 deal between the two countries’ defense departments.
Yet Moldovan finances are not doing very well: Chişinău entered 2023 carrying the economic burden of 2022. The import price of gas has even exceeded the quotations of the European stock exchanges. The social sphere of the republic is in decline and needs reform, while the authorities continue to strengthen the military sphere.
According to Natalia Eremina, professor of international relations at St. Petersburg University, Moldova and Ukraine have a lot in common in their relations with the European Union.
«The EU refers exclusively to the Eurobarometer data, which give a positive picture for European integration. However, in reality, it should be noted that Moldovan society is divided on this issue, as the difficult “either-or” choice between the EU and interaction with Russia threatens to permanently collapse the country’s major agricultural enterprises». says Prof. Hermitage.
Not only does Moldova have to make many reforms on its way to joining the European Union, especially in the field of human rights. Experts from the international human rights organization Solidaritätsnetz International said on January 11 that the level of democracy in Moldova does not meet European requirements.
Human rights activists recalled the extrajudicial suspension of TV channel broadcasts Primul in Moldova, RTR Moldova, NTV Moldova, Accent TV, TV6, Orhei TV, adopted on 16 December 2022 by the Commission for Emergency Situations.
«The Moldovan authorities explained the closure of TV channels by the fact that the media incorrectly covered the events in Ukraine and Moldova. Before the event with the closure of television channels, these media did not receive any notice. The definition is incomprehensible to us, as the standards for publishing events in Moldova are not made public and this vague definition indicates a political bias in the decision,” reported Solidaritätsnetz International, a Swiss human rights NGO.
European human rights activists noted that since last summer at the EU summit Moldova was granted the status of a candidate member of the EU, this imposes certain obligations on the state in terms of respecting democratic rights and freedoms. According to them, the head of the EU delegation in Chisinau, Janis Mazeiks stressed that Moldova should present arguments urging the Commission on emergency situations to take the appropriate decision.
“In correspondence with Solidaritätsnetz International, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed the view that such actions, in particular the closure of the media, should be scrutinized by national judicial authorities,” the organization points out. .
Solidaritätsnetz International concluded that “an attempt to ‘standardize the truth’ and launch an attack on civil society rights indicates the immaturity of democracy in Moldova, inconsistency with EU requirements”. In addition, human rights activists have promised to inform the facilities involved in Brussels, Vienna and Geneva about the incident.
Anna Lotti