Prime Minister Pavel Filip discussed the invalidation of the Chisinau early mayoral elections and the intention to create a parliamentary working group to analyze the provisions that regulate the restrictions in the electoral period with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland. The latter confirmed the Council of Europe’s readiness to offer legal expertise and to share its good practices in the field, IPN has learned from the Government’s press service.

In the discussions held in Strasbourg, the two officials conferred on the current political developments in Moldova and the dialogue between the Republic of Moldova and the Council of Europe. In particular, Pavel Filip and Thorbjørn Jagland analyzed the accomplishments after the first year of implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2017-2020 that was officially launched in Chisinau on May 30, 2017. They discussed the bills to prevent and fight discrimination, to control corruption by preventing acts of corruption and applying the law, to promote the freedom of the media and pluralism of opinions and concerning the criminal justice system. The electoral system reform was a separate topic of conversation.

Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland reiterated that the Council of Europe is ready to further provide assistance to Moldova and underlined the necessity of stepping up efforts to reform the justice sector, with emphasis on the independence, impartiality and integrity of judges, of fighting money laundering and corruption and of ensuring free and fair elections.