“Advancing media freedom in the Republic of Moldova” is a four-year project, launched in January 2025 with the 2-million-euro budget.

Freedom of expression and media pluralism in the Republic of Moldova remain a priority for the Council of Europe and reinforced by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Moldova 2025-2028. In December 2023, European Union has opened accession talks with the Republic of Moldova, bringing a new set of requirements that the country must report and align with, including further reforms of the media and audiovisual sector.

The Project aims to further support strengthening freedom of expression and capacity of the audiovisual regulator, public broadcaster, ongoing institutionalised efforts of Moldovan authorities in in countering information disorder, improving media literacy, strengthening the society’s resilience against disinformation campaigns as well as implementation of legislation on access to information.  

The project will address key issues, relevant to the Republic of Moldova, considering strengthening freedom of expression and media pluralism, requirements of the EU accession process, and challenges posed by on-going Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In general terms, the project includes three main components:

• Component 1: further improvement of audiovisual, media, and access to information regulatory legal framework in light of previous Council of Europe recommendations and requirements of the EU accession talks and support for its implementation;
• Component 2: strengthening the capacities of media professionals, independence of the public service broadcaster and its documentary films department;
• Component 3: building capacity of national authorities and civil society in countering information disorder, raising media literacy and public awareness in this area.