The Council of Europe (CoE) launched the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova for the years 2021-2024 on April 19 in the presence of Moldovan President Maia Sandu and the secretary general of the CoE, Maria Pejcinovici Burici.

The document sets out the priorities for cooperation for the next four years between the two parties and its main purpose is to support democratic reforms and implement Council of Europe standards on democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in Moldova.

The value of the plan amounts to €13.65mn, money that will be allocated to support reforms in several areas.

The document calls for assistance from the Council of Europe in the priority areas — reform of the justice sector, focused on ensuring the integrity and independence of justice actors, as well as transparency, accountability and efficiency of the sector, reform of the criminal and penitentiary systems, including prevention torture and ill-treatment.

The plan also touches on the issue of fighting corruption and money laundering, freedom of assembly; combating discrimination, crime and hate speech and strengthening the independence of the press, in particular with regard to the regulatory agency and the public broadcaster. A special chapter is dedicated to confidence-building measures between different actors on the two banks of the Dniester.

Sandu mentioned in her Strasbourg speech that the fight against corruption and the reform of the judiciary are the number one priority of this roadmap.