The European Union and Council of Europe joint programme Partnership for Good Governance II 2019-2022 (PGG) held the third Steering Committee meeting for the Republic of Moldova on Tuesday 3 March in online format. The aim of the meeting was to present the state of implementation and the results of the programme and discuss plans for 2022.

During the meeting, participants assessed the impact of the work carried out by the PGG projects (country specific and regional) during the past year in the fields of judiciary, combating corruption, discrimination and violence against women.

The programme is implementing two country specific projects in the Republic of Moldova for the period 2019-2022 in the field of justice reform.

The first one, with a budget of 600 000 euros, is assisting the Moldovan authorities in strengthening the efficiency and quality of the judicial system. Its aim is to facilitate a system for monitoring the progress of judicial reforms and to allow the adoption of justice sector policies based on evidence. Other objectives are improving the collection, reporting and analysis of data on the efficiency and quality of the courts and the enforcement system, and consolidating the mechanisms for judicial transparency and accountability. In addition, this project aims to improve the system of enforcement of court decisions in civil and administrative cases, as well as to improve the professional capacities of bailiffs and the tools at their disposal. The implementation of the project has been based on the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice's (CEPEJ) methodology and tools for evaluating the day-to-day functioning of judicial systems and the quality and efficiency of the public service of justice.

The second project, with a budget of 655 000 euros, aims to strengthen the Equality Council's practice, to improve the courses provided by the Lawyers Training Centre, and to enhance the capacity of judges and prosecutors to deliver high quality justice – in particular in discrimination cases – by applying European standards. It has been implemented via training courses, round tables, conferences and other capacity-building activities.

The European Union provides 80% of the funding of the two projects, whilst the Council of Europe provides 20% and is in charge of their implementation.

In addition to these two country-specific projects, the Republic of Moldova is also taking part in four regional projects aimed at fighting against economic crime, strengthening the profession of lawyers, combating discrimination and facilitating access of women to justice with a total budget of 3.7 million euros.

Gintautas Baranauskas, Deputy Head of Operations at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, Delphine Freymann, Head of the Programming Department a.i., Office of the Directorate General of Programmes, Council of Europe, and Victor Lapusneanu, Head of Council of Europe and Human Right Unit, Multilateral Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and PGG National Coordinator opened the meeting.

  Partnership for Good Governance II (2019-2022) projects in the Republic of Moldova

Partnership for Good Governance II (2019-2022) regional projects