{"ky":206616,"docuLanguageResource":{"ky":665729,"title":"Speech by Commissioner Kos at the European Parliament - Establishing the Reform and Growth Facility for Moldova","subtitle":"Speech on Moldova Reform and Growth Facility","htmlContent":"

President, Honourable Members,

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In the past months, Moldova withstood the biggest hybrid attack in its history. This included vote-buying, disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks.

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At the end of last year, Russia cut off gas supplies to Moldova and subjected the country to aggressive energy blackmail.

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This was clearly meant to destabilise the government, spike inflation and discredit the country's European path, only months before an election.

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In such turbulent times, reliable friends matter. This is what the EU has demonstrated in the past months.  

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First, we provided Moldova with immediate budget support to push the energy prices back down to pre-crisis levels.

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Second, we seized the moment with a Strategy for Energy Independence and Resilience. It will integrate Moldova into the European electricity market and help it gain full control over their energy supplies. They will be completely decoupled from Russian energy by the end of next year.

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This is very ambitious. For comparison, it took the Baltic States 15 years to do this integration. With Moldova, we want to do it in just two years. 

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And third, we approached Moldova respecting its full territorial integrity. Our offer included the Transnistrian region where a humanitarian crisis was looming.

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Of course, we attached important conditions. One of the results was that, for the first time ever, Moldova's public television can be watched in the Transnistrian region. Romanian language schools became accessible, illegal check points were removed and political prisoners were freed.

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Ultimately, Russia felt compelled to restart gas transfers to keep the Transnistrian region afloat. But to do so, they now need to pay market prices, which will cost them hundreds of millions of euros just until the end of this heating season.

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Our intervention matched the cynical games of Moscow.

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It ensured that nobody in Moldova had to go without light or heating because of skyrocketing prices. It defused the topic as a vote winner for those who want to weaken Europe. It demonstrated that in turbulent times, the EU is a partner to rely on.

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We are now adding another piece to our support for Moldova, the Reform and Growth Facility.

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It amounts to EUR 1.9 billion and is the largest EU financial support package for Moldova since its independence. The Plan aims to double Moldova's economy in the next decade and start integrating the country in key parts of the internal market.

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I would like to personally thank the AFET and BUDG committees, rapporteurs Sven Mikser and Siegfried Mureșan, and all MEPs who worked on the Facility. The speed of the negotiations reflects the urgency on the ground.

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Together we have adapted the pre-financing rate to the new circumstances. The higher rate of 18% will further help Moldova mitigate the impact of the energy crisis and free itself of future Russian blackmail.

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We have also agreed to add an additional EUR 100 million in non-repayable support. On this, the Commission has a formal declaration on the source of funding for the increased assistance provided under the Facility, which has been sent to the Parliament's services for inclusion in the verbatim record of this debate.

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Discussions with the Moldovan authorities on the Reform Agenda are advancing well, and we expect it this week. This will allow us to disburse the pre-financing at the end of April or in May. And provided that all necessary requirements are met, the first regular payment under the Growth Plan will follow in July.

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We have also just seen the integration of Moldova into the Single Euro Payments Area. This will allow faster cheaper euro transfers across Europe.

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And we are working with Moldova to integrate them into the EU roaming area by the end of this year. This will make it cheaper for Moldovans to call, text, and use the internet when traveling or doing business in the EU.

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The Republic of Moldova has set itself the ambitious goal of EU membership by 2030. This is technically possible.

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To achieve it, Moldova needs to keep up its impressive reform path and align with EU legislation, and in particular reform its public administration, judiciary, and anti-corruption frameworks.

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Because our efforts to integrate Moldova deeper and faster into our single market can only pay dividends if European investors and businesses know they will find a business climate that is predictable and safe.

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In times of crisis, true partnerships are tested. Moldova has seen a Europe of action—not mere words.

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Moldova belongs to our European family.  As it moves forward on its EU path, it will not walk alone.

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