On April 19-22, the President of Moldova Maia Sandu was on a visit to Strasbourg participating in the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Sandu delivered a speech on Monday, 19 April, with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, about the third Action Plan of the Council of Europe for Moldova.

The Moldovan President stated that the fight against corruption, justice reform, improvement of electoral legislation and practice, management of the Covid-19 pandemic, including interventions for the defense of human rights in the health sector are the main priorities Moldova.

“We have an action plan for the next period. The fight against corruption remains the number one priority for us. Justice reform, judicial independence, independence of legal institutions. Another priority is overcoming the pandemic situation, defending human rights, protecting citizens, caring for citizens. (…) Moldova has a beautiful and progressive collaboration with the Council of Europe. After the pandemic situation improves, we invite you and we are waiting for you to visit our country “, said Maia Sandu.

The head of state had a meeting with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović. Sandu said that they discussed the measures needed to improve the human rights situation in the context of the pandemic: the ratification of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and the fight against hate speech.

“We discussed expanding the coverage of health services provided to citizens and increasing the quality of these services, especially for post-COVID-19 recovery, as well as other measures. We also discussed the importance of access to a fair and independent judiciary and of drawing increased attention to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region. I thanked Ms. Dunja Mijatović for her attention to the human rights situation in our country and assured her that she has an ally and a friend in the fight for the protection of people’s rights,” President Sandu said in a post on Facebook.

Prior to the meeting with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, President Sandu had a discussion with Hendrik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Sandu spoke about the main priorities of Moldova for the next period, about objectives that it must meet, and thanked the Council of Europe for support and cooperation.

“I discussed with Mr. Daems about the current political situation in Moldova, the challenges to democracy in our country, the steps forward to overcome the political crisis, but also the efforts we make to reduce and fight the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. I reiterated in discussion with the President of PACE that the main priority of my term as President in the fight against corruption and genuine reform of the judiciary and I thanked him for the sustained support of PACE for the democratic transformations in Moldova. I also thanked Mr. Daems for the invitation to participate in the opening of the spring session of PACE and for the opportunity to address a message in the plenary of the Parliamentary Assembly”, mentioned Maia Sandu in a Facebook post.

President Maia Sandu also met with the President of the Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio.

“One of the important meetings today was with Mr. Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission. I reiterated the main priority in my term as President of Moldova – the true reform of the judiciary and the fight against corruption. We discussed the steps to be taken to achieve these priorities, but also an important role in the Commission’s expertise in finalizing reforms in the field. In this regard, I appreciated the contribution of the experts from the High-Level Working Group on Justice Reform under the auspices of the Secretary-General of the Venice Commission, which is essential for the success of the reform I am promoting. I also thanked Mr. Buquicchio for the openness with which the Venice Commission always reacted to requests for opinions on the functioning of the rule of law in our country – but also for his personal involvement in encouraging changes in the judiciary in Moldova,” is shown in the message posted by the President on Facebook.

On Sunday, April 18, Maia Sandu had a meeting with the mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian. In the message posted on Facebook, President Sandu mentions that she thanked Jeanne Barseghian for helping, through an efficient organization, the Moldovan diaspora in Strasbourg to vote in last year’s elections during pandemics.”

The representatives of the Chișinău Parliament issued a press release on Monday, April 19, announcing that the Socialist Vice President of the Moldovan Parliament Vlad Batrîncea was unanimously elected Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for 2021.