Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-23-Speech-3-169"
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"en.20050223.15.3-169"2
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".
Mr President, yesterday we had a EU Cooperation Council in which the new neighbourhood policy and the action plan for Moldova was adopted. We also had an excellent frank and open dialogue in which I personally participated. As my colleague pointed out, we clearly said that if Moldova really wants to get closer to the European Union then it is very important for it to also demonstrate that interest. I think that the elections which are to be held very soon, on 6 March, will be an excellent moment to show what is really going on.
Moldova really has to promote respect for human rights. It has to promote and empower civil society, it has to strengthen the independence of the media, and it has to ensure better follow-up of the Council of Europe's recommendations. I said all of that to them personally. We all agree that a vibrant democracy, a respect for the rule of law, an independent judiciary and a free and independent media are necessary if it wants to promote the stability and prosperity of the country.
Since independence in 1991, Moldova has had a rather good record of free and fair elections. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and ODIHR, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, confirmed in its report on Moldova that the last two parliamentary elections did indeed meet international standards.
To Moldova's credit very few elections in the newly independent states had been assessed in such a positive way. However, the OSCE's assessment of local elections since 2001 have reported that, unfortunately, the situation has deteriorated. The organisation noted shortcomings in the context of local government elections held in May and June 2003, including abuse of administrative resources, heavy bias of state media in favour of the incumbents and the arrest of prominent candidates. Reports on the October 2002 elections for the Governor of Gagauzia, an Autonomous Territorial Unit, also noted similar shortcomings.
In the run-up to the 2005 parliamentarian elections we are concerned that one of the joint recommendations, made by the OECE and Council of Europe Venice Commission, for improvements to the election legislation and administration have not really been completely implemented. Other reasons for concern include also the apparent lack of confidence in the central election commission, problems with the accuracy of voter registers, reported abuse of the administrative resources by the authorities, control by the ruling party and government of the public media, and pressure on the private media. In addition, up to one fourth of Moldova's population might not be able to cast their votes. This includes Moldovan citizens living abroad, or in Transnistria.
Yesterday we heard from the government that there had also been some disturbances in the electoral process coming from outside the country. That is how they described it and I think we have to ensure that we observe these elections very carefully. As a result, the Commission has given funding for 25 specially named commissioners for this election observation, going into the OSCE/ODIHR mission. It is important to know that this will not be an easy task and we should remain very vigilant.
I also welcome the visit to Moldova in January of the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Mr Terry Davis, and the launch of the OSCE's election observation mission. I shall take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for the very good work of this Council of Europe and OSCE support team.
We are in regular contact with our mission and, as I said, we are contributing EUR 50 000. This was mentioned again yesterday. I think the Moldovan delegation that wants to move towards Europe has shown great interest in trying to comply with the standards, but there is also some concern about the influences that might come from outside. Again, I hope that Parliament, together with the Commission, follows events very closely as it may prove crucial to do so."@en1
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