Secretary General

"I was very pleased to have met today Nicolae Timofti, the President of the Republic of Moldova. The expectations of Moldova's partners and friends are high and the President bears the challenging responsibility of consensus-building and bridging the divisions running deep in Moldovan society.

We had a very open and constructive discussion of the forthcoming reform agenda.

First and foremost it is important to rebuild the citizens' trust in their public institutions and law-enforcement structures, by ensuring that they become independent and remain outside the influence of political parties.

An important reform of the judiciary has been initiated, but the greatest challenges lie ahead, with the full and proper implementation of the new legislation in line with the European standards and good practices. It is now important to focus on the selection, appointment and promotion of judges and prosecutors, on the role of the National Institute of Justice as well as on the implementation of measures to fight corruption within the judiciary.

The reform of the Prosecution is a priority. I expressed the readiness of the Council of Europe to work with the Government and the Prosecutor General to ensure that the Prosecution is reformed, independent and depoliticised, in line with the country's commitments to the Council of Europe.

It is also important to create a legislative and institutional environment which favours pluralism of the media sector, by increasing the transparency of the media ownership, by having clear rules on the concentration of media property and by improving the functioning of the supervisory bodies. The Council of Europe stands ready to provide its expertise on these issues.

We also discussed the legislative agenda for the coming months and the opportunities for co-operation with the Council of Europe, including through the expertise of the Venice Commission, in particular in the field of the constitutional justice. The legislative process must be inclusive and following broad consultations, without undermining the principle of stability of the law.

I expressed the hope that the ruling coalition will attempt to find a consensus in the Parliament on Constitutional reform, in particular with regard to Article 78 on Presidential elections. Addressing this issue now will help avoiding prolonged political crises in the future.

I reiterated to the President that we remain fully committed to continue working with Moldova. We agreed to develop, in the next few months, an Action Plan for strategic co-operation in all of these priority areas. The Council of Europe is at the disposal of the Republic of Moldova and ready to assist it in any way possible to help it address all these issues."