Foreign Policy Association together with Friedrich­Ebert-Stiftung offer you a newsletter on foreign policy and European integration issues of the Republic of Moldova. The newsletter is part of the “Foreign Policy Dialogue” joint Project. NEWSLETTER MONTHLY BULLETIN JULY 2020 NR.7(173) Synthesis and Foreign Policy Debates The newsletter is developed by Sorina Ştefârţă, editor-coordinator TOPICS OF THE EDITION: 1. Vladislav Gribincea, director of the Legal Resources Center from Moldova: “Things will turn for the better when politicians give up the tradition of having judges in their pockets” 2. Editorial by Victor Chirilă, executive director of the Foreign Policy Association(APE): “Where justice is absent, the state is at the mercy of corrupt politicians and judges” 3. Iulian Rusu, IPRE: “The extraordinary evaluation of the actors in the justice sector: how and under what conditions can it be implemented” 4. Expert opinion. Dragoș Lucian Ivan: “Justice crumbled in paper tied up with strings or Justice completed through digitalisation?” News in Brief The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration(MAEIE) issued a statement on Saturday, August 15, announcing that it is following with attention and concern the developments of the post-election situation in Belarus, being particularly concerned about the violence registered in this country."Reiterating the importance of respecting human rights and generally accepted democratic norms, we hope that the difficulties faced by the Belarusian people in these days will be overcome peacefully in an authentic and inclusive political dialogue," the Chisinau diplomacy statement said. In these difficult times, we express our full solidarity with the people of Belarus, continuing to support the consolidation of democracy, prosperity, stability and independence of the Republic of Belarus- a friendly country and an important traditional cooperation partner of the Republic of Moldova", the MAEIE mentions. One day earlier, on 14 August, the foreign ministers of the EU member states gave the green light to sanction the repression in Belarus following the disputed re-election of Alexander Lukashenko for a new presidential term. According to European officials, quoted by AFP and Agerpres,"a list of names will be drawn up" in this regard. The imposition of sanctions has been called for by at least nine EU Member States, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Denmark. In a joint letter, the leaders of these countries called for"restrictive measures against officials" responsible for the elections that ended with the re-election of Lukashenko with about 80% of the vote and for violence against protesters contesting the election result. On 4 Augus, Minister Oleg Ţulea paid a working visit to Kiev, at the invitation of his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba. The officials discussed a wide range of issues on bilateral, regional and international cooperation, and noted a positive dynamic of dialogue between the two countries. Oleg Ţulea thanked Kiev for the assistance provided in the transit on the territory of Ukraine of 15 thousand Moldovan citizens returning from the countries affected by the pandemic. In turn, Dmytro Kuleba thanked for the humanitarian aid provided by the Republic of Moldova to the regions severely affected by the weather and floods in Western Ukraine. The heads of diplomacy of the two states also discussed the implementation of practical actions to boost collaboration in the trade, economic and humanitarian areas as well as in the interaction at the Moldovan-Ukrainian state border, aspects of the Nistru River ecology and the operation of the Nistru Hydropower Complex. For this, Oleg Țulea and Dmytro Kuleba signed, in Kiev, the Plan of consultations between the two ministries for the years 2021-2022. On 30 July, the Head of the Mission of the Republic of Moldova to the EU, Ambassador Daniela Morari, presented her credentials to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. In the discussion that followed the ceremony, Daniela Morari referred to the priorities of her mandate in Brussels- in particular, the effective implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU and the constructive participation of our country in the Eastern Partnership. The diplomat also reiterated the high appreciation on part of the Chisinau authorities for the assistance provided by the EU in the context of COVID-19. Justice reform: angry with the look in the mirror? Sorina Ștefârță In just a few days, the Republic of Moldova will celebrate the 29 th anniversary of its Independence- a period neither too long- if we compare ourselves with countries that have an experience of hundreds of years of statehood- nor too short if is to think that from a 29 year-old in whom you invested generously from his/her very first day of life, you still have some performance expectations. What are the performance expectations from a state? Happy people, would be the first answer that comes to my mind, despite the fact that happiness is an extremely relative thing, and the state, a priori , is seen more as a restrictive mechanism than a generator of positive emotions. However, we do have examples of countries with happy people(Denmark seems to remain consistently on top), and one of the key components of this well­being is people’s trust in justice.“Fair justice”, as an electoral spot from almost another life said... And here comes the natural and legitimate question: how much trust do they have- if they still have - in the judiciary and its capacity to be“fair” to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova? A country that, for over two decades, has made justice reform the official spearhead, only that something is wrong and, as a result, every time we return to the starting point. It’s as if we live in a continuous joke, when Don Quixote is drunk, the jade is weak, and the mill (justice sector) is invincible. Thus, with almost three decades of independent life, the Republic of Moldova is still struggling with this process of justice reform that no one seems to be able to say exactly when it began and especially when it will end. At the same time, it is enough for someone to draw our attention to the fact that we are dawdling again and that the effort is far from meeting the expectations of the people of this country, but also of Monthly Bulletin, Nr. 7(173), JULY 2020 64, Sciusev str. MD-2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, Tel-Fax:+373 22 21 09 86 Website: www.ape.md E-mail: office@ape.md