EU - Moldova Parliamentary Cooperation Committee Minutes of the 12th EU-Moldova PCC 16-17 February 2010 Chisinau The 12th meeting of the EU - Moldova Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC) opened on 16 February 2010 at 15h.30 under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Igor CORMAN and Mrs Monica Luisa MACOVEI. Co-Chairman Mr. CORMAN welcomed the participants. He stressed the importance of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. He also underscored the importance that Moldova attaches to the relations with the EU, including bilateral cooperation with its member states. He expressed the gratitude of the Moldovan Delegation for launching the negotiations on a EU-Moldova Association Agreement. He also noted that the DCFTA and visa facilitation remain the priority directions of Moldova. Mrs. MACOVEI, co-chair, welcomed the 12th PCC meeting and expressed the readiness to work together with the Moldovan authorities. She also supports the process of reforms in Moldovan. In this respect she underlined the importance for Moldova to share this experience with Romania. In her words, membership of the EU can become possible only after conducting reforms in key areas. 1. Adoption of the Agenda The draft agenda of the 12th meeting of the EU-Moldova PCC was adopted without debate. 2. Adoption of the minutes The minutes of the 11th meeting of the EU-Moldova PCC, which was held in Strasbourg on 22-23 October 2008, were adopted without debate. Joint debate on topics 3 - 5 Mr. LEANCA - Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integrate of the Republic of Moldova, welcomed the support of the European Parliament to democratic values in the region and in the Republic of Moldova. As he noted, the values and objectives that the European Parliament promotes and supports represent the reference points to Moldova's efforts to democratise its society. In this context he referred to the European Parliament resolution of 07 May 2009 as a strong signal of encouragement sent to the Moldovan society at a critical moment and expressed his gratitude for this. The speaker referred to the new political reality in Chisinau, which has a special significance in terms of relations with the EU. Within the framework of cooperation with the EU, Moldova has started to deliver on the commitments it made. Moldova's previous messages were ambiguous. He referred to the perspectives of the EU- Moldova dialogue. In the opinion of the Moldovan authorities, the Common Declaration of the Cooperation Council of 21 December 2009 confirms the ambitious D-MD\PV\871462\EN 1 PE 467.616 agenda of Moldova for its European direction and it also proves the unprecedented openness of the EU and its Member States to support Moldova on this hard and necessary path towards the European integration. The EU and Moldova have started the dialogue on the liberalisation of the visa regime. As he noted on 1 March 2010, there will be evaluation of the experts´ mission which is meant to evaluate the readiness of Moldova to start the dialogue on the liberalisation of the visa regime. This dialogue is political as well as technical. On the technical side, Mr LEANCA pointed to the fact that Moldova is trying to meet the EU requirements. As regards the political viewpoint, it is up to the EU to create a politically positive environment for visa facilitation in Brussels and in the member states. The June meeting of the Association Council will be a good opportunity to give the Commission the necessary mandate to start negotiations. In the opinion of the Moldovan side the negotiations on the Association Agreement (AA) and Eastern Partnership will be successful. He also spoke on the importance of the Eastern Partnership for Moldova. On the financial component of the EU's support he noted that - due to the global financial crisis - Moldova is confronted with budgetary difficulties. Moreover, the inheritance from the previous regime resulted in Moldova´s need of assistance from its international partners. In this respect he mentioned that the recent agreements with the IMF create a favourable environment for external financing to Moldova. The decision of the EU and the World Bank to co-chair a consultative group on Moldova on 24 March is very important for Moldova and hopefully there will be a possibility to identify the necessary resources to overcome the existing financial crisis in Moldova. The speaker also asked for the macro financial assistance for Moldova and underlined that the memorandum approved by the IMF on 29 January 2010 creates the favourable environment for further steps in the negotiations with the Commission. He also spoke on the importance of the EU's support to Moldova's EU approximation. Mr. Dirk SCHUBEL, Head of the EU delegation to Moldova, made a reference to the opening of a bridge, which he attended the day before the meeting, in the North of the country. In his words building of bridges between the EU and Moldova, which was closed for 66 years, is symbolic in this very moment and also demonstrates what can be achieved in Moldova with the help of the EU. He dwelt on last years achievements in domestic policy of Moldova and in its bilateral relations with the EU. Opening of negotiations on the Association Agreement is the most important step in this respect. He expressed his hope that, at a later stage, negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement will start. He also pointed to the number of fields where the EU and Moldova have made progress together. Visa facilitation and readmission agreements have been in force since 1 January 2007 and their implementation is going smoothly. He mentioned the Common Visa Application Centre, which for the Moldovan citizens has facilitated the procedures of obtaining the visas for Schengen states and other EU member states. With respect to the relations between the EU and Moldova, he also mentioned the "Mobility Partnership". The EU annual support to Moldova, only on bilateral level, is of approximately 60 millions euro. In 2010 another 41 millions euro will be allocated by the EU for the institution building programme, under the Eastern Partnership. In addition, Mr SCHUEBEL spoke about the founds available for the EU in order to sustain energy prices. The EUBAM (European Border Assistance Missions) is also a substantial element in the relations between the EU and Moldova. In March 9 High Level Advisors will help strengthen the key policy making institutions of Moldova. He mentioned the Democracy Support Package that will be implemented by the Council of Europe and will support Moldova in further reforming the judiciary. D-MD\PV\871462\EN 2 PE 467.616 Budgetary support has been allocated to health, social and water sectors, and,, this year rural development will be supported with considerable funds. He added that micro financial assistance will certainly be granted by the EU. He expressed hope about additional funds being granted to consultative group meeting on Moldova on 24 March. With respect to Transnistria Mr SCHUEBEL spoke on the support to the people in Transnistria, through confidence building measures, which include the creation of a "Euro Region" and the "Railway Package". He also discussed those measures in detail. Mr. MASTALKA commented that both parties want Moldova to join the EU. However, what price does the EU have to pay for this? He also spoke about discussions concerning reforms and visa facilitation. Finally he stated that there was cooperation with the previous government for example there were 8 years of cooperation with the members of Moldovan Parliament and consequently there are some foundations laid down and everything which is positive should be used. Mr. STOLOJAN stated: "there are two essential conditions: that Moldova manages, first of all is the political stability. There is an Alliance for European Integration which is strongly committed to push Moldova towards the EU and this commitment is strongly supported by the EU". So he put the following question: how is Moldova going to maintain its political unity within this Alliance in the next 2 years?". With regard to the economic stability, which should consists of stability of budget and exchange rate, and as it was said by the Moldovan side that Moldova can not make it without the external aid. Concerning the external aid, he asked the second question about how would Moldova manage to keep the agreements which it has concluded on the external aid? Mr. BUŞOI commented on the state of play of EU-Moldova cooperation. He noted that the wish of Moldova to get closer to the EU should be implemented through reforms. Support for democracy, rule of law and market economy are the principles which were used by the states that recently joined the EU. He commented on the intervention of the Deputy Prime Minister and underscored that the EU should support a liberalised visa regime in order to promote exchange of experience, stimulate business. Clearly in business there are mutual interests and opportunities as well. These are as important as cultural and historical identities. As for the Eastern Partnership, the new initiative of the EU, he said that he encourages using this initiative because, in his words, "it is a very important instrument to promote closeness of the EU and Eastern Partnership Countries". Regarding the financial component he noted that in the European Parliament there is no obstacle for granting the financial aid by the EU. There are new procedures introduced by the Lisbon Treaty for granting the assistance and it requires time, but, together with the colleges, they will make efforts in the European Parliament to speed up those procedures. Mr. CORMAN commented that Moldova needs aid in order to advance towards the EU integration.