A € 36.4 million EU grant allocated to Moldova is intended to further combat COVID-19 and support police reform.
Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi at a meeting in Brussels with Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu noted that the EU provided this assistance after Moldova fulfilled the concomitant conditions, having made significant progress on key priorities for reforms in the law enforcement sector and the fight against COVID-19. “This assistance will help Moldova strengthen the resilience of the health sector, support the economic recovery process and the fight against COVID-19 in the field of law enforcement,” said Olivér Várhelyi. According to him, within the framework of the EU economic recovery package worth up to 600 million euros over the next 3 years to promote investments in Moldova and in support of the country's recovery after the COVID-19 crisis, today's payments include: support for police reform in Moldova - € 21.4 million and support to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic € 15 million. As noted in the materials of the European Union, since 2016, the EU program "Support to Police Reform in Moldova" has supported the Moldovan police in modernizing and improving the professional level of its structures. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, law enforcement officials were among the first to be threatened. Against this background, to combat COVID-19, to the law enforcement sector was mobilized grant funding of € 21.4 million under the Police Reform Program. Along with this, progress in police reform and public confidence continues to grow: in October 2020, the percentage of people expressing confidence in the police reached 41%, up from 39.5% in 2019.The proportion of female police officers also continued to grow, reaching 19.9% in 2020. According to the EU, the Moldovan police have improved their human rights record and continued to deploy public order. Finally, the policy of zero tolerance for corruption continued to be promoted through awareness campaigns and police training. At the same time, the EU program “Support to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the pandemic”, adopted in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, has contributed to the resilience of the health care system in Moldova, as well as the economic recovery of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Subsidized interest rate loans, financial guarantees and grants were provided to SMEs, including in rural areas, to help mitigate the negative economic impact of the pandemic. When physical stores were forced to close, SMEs were helped to go digital through a dedicated program. Additional measures were also taken: unemployment benefits, tax breaks, extension of the period of the VAT refund program for agricultural producers, etc. All EU assistance is strictly conditional. The European Union closely monitors the political situation and evaluates the fulfillment of conditions before disbursing funds in support of the budget. In addition to progress on key reforms, Moldova should not back down on issues of protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law. According to the EU representatives, today's grant disbursement within the framework of budgetary support is part of the overall assistance provided by the Team of Europe to Moldova to overcome the pandemic, and is based on joint efforts with the EU states. Earlier this year, Moldova became the first European country to receive a COVID19 vaccine donation through the COVAX platform and the EU's vaccine sharing mechanism. To date, Moldova has received over 1 million doses of vaccines (over 500,000 through the COVAX platform and over 500,000 through the EU vaccine sharing mechanism). Earlier, the European Commission promptly mobilized a package of responses to COVID-19 worth more than € 127 million in the form of grants from the EU budget, especially for Moldova. This package is used to provide concrete support to the people of Moldova as part of the overall Teams of Europe response. For example, in January 2021, a € 5 million bilateral program was launched in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to purchase additional health equipment and to support vaccine deployment. In addition, in April 2020, a program of emergency macro-financial assistance to Moldova in connection with COVID-19 was adopted in the amount of 100 million euros in the form of loans on very favorable terms. The first tranche in the amount of 50 million euros was disbursed in November 2020. The second tranche of 50 million euros will be disbursed in October 2021. On June 2, 2021, the European Commission announced the Economic Recovery Plan for Moldova. This effort is unprecedented: the Commission will mobilize up to 600 million euros over the next 3 years to encourage investment in Moldova and support the country's recovery from the COVID-19 crisis in exchange for structural reforms. // 28.09.2021 — InfoMarket.
