Oligarchs Have 'Captured Moldova', EU Resolution Warns

The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, AFET, on Tuesday adopted a highly critical resolution on Moldova, saying it has been "captured by oligarchic interests" and adding that the EU should no longer aid the country at least until after next year's elections.

One of the main worries in Brussels is that the elections scheduled for February 2019 will be either rigged or the results annulled, as was the case with the mayoral election result in the capital, Chisinau, in June.

Moldova is slipping away from the European commitments it made in the Association Agreement it signed with the EU on June 27, 2014, the resolution warned.

"Moldova is backsliding on democratic standards and rule of law," the resolution said, noting a decline in democratic standards and the rule of law.

It called attention to a "lack of fair and transparent elections as well as an impartial judiciary system, and insufficient anti-corruption and anti-money laundering efforts."

After more than three years, Moldova has yet to take concrete steps in resolving the "grand theft" of about a billion US dollars from its banking system, while an independent investigative report of the international private company Kroll claimed that the current Mayor of Orhei, Ilan Shor, had masterminded the scheme.

Shor has since launched his own party and is campaigning for a seat in the next parliament in Moldova.

The European Parliament resolution called for a halt to any further funding for Moldova until the next parliamentary elections.

Members of the European Parliament stressed that Moldova needs to reform the banking sector completely following the 2014 bank theft.

"Moldova is captured by oligarchic interests with a concentration of economic and...