Council of Europe ready to continue helping Moldova

The Council of Europe will help Moldova whenever necessary as the Moldovan authorities have always expressed readiness to implement reforms, manager of the Democracy Support in Moldova Program Eridana Cano said in a news conference held to sum up the results of the program, Info-Prim Neo reports. The program was a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union, which aimed to assist Moldova in continuing the democratic reforms and in adjusting the legislation of the judicial system to the European standards. A number of events had been held within the program, from the analysis of the justice sector reform strategy to the organization of summer schools for young journalists with the aim of promoting ethics in the Moldovan mass media. Eridana Cano said the project was one of the greatest accomplishments of the Council of Europe. “We offered our assistance in examining the justice sector reform strategy and worked with policemen and prosecutors to prevent cases of use of torture. We worked out a new Code of Journalistic Ethics, which was signed by a large number of Moldovan media outlets. We also organized seminars for lawmakers and employees of the secretariat in order to strengthen the Parliament’s activity. The activities were aimed at instituting and supporting democracy in a number of areas,” stated the program manager. Attending the program completion ceremony, the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Dirk Schuebel said the program appeared when Moldova needed it most of all. “We managed to achieve many results meanwhile. We are impressed by the number of reforms launched in such a short period of time and by the steps taken to strengthen democracy,” said the EU Ambassador. The Democracy Support in Moldova Program was launched following the events of April 2009 and lasted until December 15, 2011.