The findings presented here are the result of a comprehensive process of internal consultation, conducted in October 2019 in order to inform the EaP CSF’s response to DG NEAR’s structured consultation on the Eastern Partnership beyond 2020.  The report covers the following fields:

Economic and Human Capital Development: 32% of Moldovan civil society organisations considered investing in sectors with a potential for development, growth and competitiveness in the EU market as the most urgent and effective measure which the EU should promote in order to support sustainable economic development in the EaP region. Furthermore, investing in support for infrastructure projects was seen as the second most effective and urgent measure with 23%.

Two measures were considered as equally important by Moldovan respondents (both 27%) to be taken into account by the EU in order to empower young people and address the economic challenges they are facing. On the one hand, strengthening the connection between education systems reform and labour market demands. On the other hand, investing in programmes favouring youth and social entrepreneurship.

Good Governance, Rule of Law, Security Cooperation: Some 32% of respondents of the survey in Moldova believe that in order to support good governance and rule of law reform in the EaP countries, the EU should focus on strengthening the role of civil society in policy formulation, through the participation of bona fide organisations.

EU-EaP and Intra-EaP Cooperation: Ensuring Inclusiveness and Differentiation: The results suggest that the most urgent and effective measure the EU should adopt to support Intra-EaP cooperation is the creation of ad hoc platforms for cooperation for EaP countries based on their shared interest; such platforms should be open to participation of the EaP countries that do not take part from the onset (32%).  

Boosting EU Visibility in the EaP Region: Moldovan respondents (41%) consider that the most urgent and effective measure that the EU should support to enhance its visibility in the EaP region is to prioritise funding for local projects to raise awareness about the EU in small towns and regions. The second most important measure for the enhancement of visibility is to use campaigns informing citizens about the opportunities stemming from DCFTA implementation to raise awareness about EU benefits and link them to the impact on labour markets (chosen by 23% of Moldovan respondents).

Strengthening the Role of Civil Society: According to the survey, 32% of Moldovan respondents believe that to increase civil society’s involvement in the EaP policy, the role of the National Platforms of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum should be enhanced to the level of a third party in EaP official documents, and that they should be given concrete implementation roles.

The EaP CSF prepared its response to DG NEAR’s structured consultation on the future of the Eastern Partnership by launching a comprehensive process of internal consultation of its membership base. The internal consultation was based on three pillars: six in-country focus groups, four online focus groups and one online questionnaire combining quantitative and qualitative elements. Over 200 civil society organisations participated in at least one pillar of the consultation. The results presented below offer a detailed overview of the input received from the Republic of Moldova. A total of 46 Moldovan civil society organisations participated in the consultation process (1 or more pillars): 22 organisations took part in the online survey, 20 took part in the in-country focus group and 4 in the online focus groups.