The European Union and Team Europe have provided 840 million euros to Moldova since last autumn.
The EU ambassador to Moldova, Jānis Mažeiks, said this in an interview on Radio Moldova, noting that Moldova received these funds in soft loans and grants. He stressed that the EU supports Moldova both through means given as budgetary support and through programs implemented in various fields, which contribute to modernization and democratization of the country. The diplomat stressed that the 250 million euros in support for Moldova, announced earlier by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, are additional to the previously provided financial assistance and are meant for efficiently managing the energy and refugee crises. "Of the total amount, 100 million euros are grants, another 100 million are loans, and 50 million are budget support. This money will be spent to solve both the energy crisis and the refugee crisis," Jānis Mazeiks said. "Since last fall, the EU, together with Team Europe, has provided a total of 840 million euros to Moldova in the form of grants and loans. Part of these funds were provided by the EU in the form of budgetary support for the energy sector. Last year, the EU allocated 60 million euros for compensations to socially vulnerable citizens, and this year, in August, the EU has already earmarked 75 million euros for this purpose," the head of the EU Delegation to Moldova said. He added that, in addition to the 75 million euros granted by the EU as compensations, the German government has earmarked another 40 million euros for Moldova, which also went into the Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund. The diplomat said the EU will also continue to invest in strengthening Moldova's defense capabilities by providing equipment for the modernization of the National Army. "This year, we are providing 40 million euros of support to Moldova's defense sector as part of an EU program. The matter concerns non-lethal assistance, i.e. vehicles, communications equipment, software. All in all, we have about 100 projects that are in the process of implementation across the country. There is no field in which the EU does not provide assistance, including agriculture, the media, support for businesses; we are providing assistance for the reform of the justice sector. The justice sector is a priority for the next year, because it has been a problem area for many years. The second sector that we will insist on in 2023 is support in the energy sector, the country has already done quite a lot to improve its energy resilience, but there is still much to do," the European diplomat said. // 13.12.2022 - InfoMarket
