On July 24 the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) published a report evaluating the implementation of reforms in fighting corruption. GRECO called on Moldovan authorities to step up efforts to implement measures aimed at preventing corruption with respect to members of parliament, judges and prosecutors.

In 2016, GRECO published an evaluation report with a set of recommendations aimed at fighting corruption. Today, GRECO published a follow up report evaluating the degree of implementation of the reforms.

GRECO expresses its concern regarding:

• The lack of transparency in the legislative process. GRECO encourages timely publication of draft laws and related information, which will allow for meaningful public and parliamentary debate on draft legal initiatives. 
• The absence of a code of conduct for MPs.
• The composition of the Superior Council of Prosecutors. GRECO in particular regrets that the Minister of Justice and the President of the Superior Council of the Magistracy continue to be ex officio members of this body. 
• The composition of the Superior Council of Magistracy. GRECO strongly regrets that the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General are still ex officio members of the Superior Council of Magistracy.
• The absence of clear, formal procedures regarding hierarchical instructions to prosecutors. 
• The absence of measures to prevent various forms of conflicts of interest among MPs.

At the same time GRECO welcomes: 

• The constitutional reform that provides for the appointment of the Prosecutor General for a single non-renewable term of office. 
• The newly published Code of Ethics of prosecutors.
• The publication and distribution of the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics of judges and the adoption of the commentaries to the Code. 
• The progress made in addressing the problem of unjustified delays in adjudicating cases and in increasing the transparency of court decisions and judgments. 

According to GRECO, The Republic of Moldova needs to make significant progress to achieve an acceptable level of compliance. So far, the country has fully complied with four of the 18 recommendations. While it has partially implemented nine of the recommendations, five have not been implemented at all. In this regard, GRECO asks the Moldovan authorities to report back on the implementation of the pending recommendations by 30 June 2020.