New Moldovan PM visits Brussels
Vlad Filat, the newly elected Prime Minister of Moldova, visited the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday (29 Sept). He held a meeting with Jerzy Buzek, President of the new European Parliament, and took questions from the Parliament's External Affairs Committee. The EPD has been following events in Moldova closely this year, monitoring elections, reporting back to Brussels decision makers on events taking place in the country and helping to strengthen EU support for Moldova's transition.
Having held a joint press conference with Mr Buzek (view conference video here), Mr Filat faced over an hour of questions from members of the European Parliament's External Affairs Committee, during which many MEPs underlined the Parliament's support for Moldova and the transition that EPD Programme Officer for the post-Soviet region, Krisitna Prunerova, recently assessed as 'in need of support'.
During the session Mr Filat confirmed that Moldova had concluded an agreement with the IMF but urged the European Union now to act on its promises for support. The Prime Minister asked meanwhile for patience and understanding from external supporters as his country sought to instigate much needed but difficult reforms.
Mr Filat expressed a desire to improve the voting mechanism in Moldova to allow ex-patriots to participate in future elections but stressed that the precise method for achieving this was a matter for serious debate.
When faced with a question regarding Moldova's relations with their Russian
neighbours, Mr Filat insisted that his government would adopt a 'professional and pragmatic' approach. He emphasised, however, that Europe did have a role to play in bringing about a solution to the issue of the semi-autonomous region of Transnistria.
Mr Filat is currently leader of a coallition government called the Alliance for European Integration (AEI), which is composed of four parties: the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party, the Democratic Party and the Moldova Noastra Alliance.
The EPD has been monitoring the situation in the country throughout 2009. The EPD's Kristina Prunerova took part in an election observation mission in the first set of elections, in April, and has been keeping the Brussels decision making community informed of key developments ever since via the EPD's Moldova Weekly news bulletins (read here).
The EPD recently produced a report assessing the situation in Moldova after the first set of parliamentary elections were marred by widescale fraud, which led to politcal stalemate, mass protest and a second set of elections in July. Read the report here.
Further Information:
Kristina Prunerova is the EPD's Programme Officer for the post-Soviet region. Contact Kristina here for more information about the EPD's activities concerning Moldova and other parts of this region.
Learn more about the EPD's activities in Moldova here