Non-Governmental Organisations Find Yet Fewer Results in the Implementation of the EU-RM Association Agreement in the Civil Society and Media Matters

The Shadow Report on Carrying out the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement launched on 11 March in Chisinau, indicates certain involutions in such areas as civil society and the media registered in 2018. According to the Executive Director of the Association of Independent Press (API) Petru Macovei, who presented the document, the obligations undertaken by Moldova were becoming increasingly difficult to evaluate ‘because there are continuously less results being registered’.

Imitation of a dialogue between authorities and civil society (or its absence) were named among the issues highlighted in the report. According to Petru Macovei, the NGOs that criticised the authorities became subjected to denigration campaigns ‘including through the media sources controlled by the politicians in power’. The government also seems to use a selective approach to certain non-governmental organisations, some of which have received state funding for important projects.

The speaker also recalled that the Competition Council did not respond to the journalists’ request to investigate the issue of an alleged cartel agreement on the advertising market reported a year ago.
The experts recommend the authorities to effectively tackle the problem of excessive concentration on the media market, as well as the formation of cartels on the advertising markets and ensure an appropriate framework for the development of a pluralistic and independent media.

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI) Daniela Morari, also present at the event, acknowledged the existence of certain drawbacks in the implementation of the Association Agreement, stating that those were mainly influenced by the electoral year. Daniela Morari said that the recommendations formulated in the report will help the competent institutions set priorities for 2019.

The year 2019 marks five years since the signing of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova.
The Shadow Report was prepared within the ‘Monitoring the Implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement’ Project supported by the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE).