July 6 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said it has frozen the disbursement of the first tranche of a 100 million euro ($117 million) aid package to Moldova after the country's top court cancelled the election win of a pro-European candidate for the post of Chisinau mayor.
"After the invalidation of the mayoral election, the political pre-conditions have not been fulfilled. In this situation, a decision was taken to put on hold the disbursement of the first macro-financial assistance tranche until political pre-conditions attached to our assistance are met," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said at the European Parliament plenary session on Thursday, according to a transcript of her remarks released by the EU delegation to Moldova.
"And we hope this can happen soon. The sooner, the better. But this must happen," Mogherini said.
The EU Council and the European Parliament agreed on providing 100 million euro to help Moldova finance its structural reforms in June last year.
"These decisions undermine the trust of the citizens of Moldova in the state institutions. The invalidation of the mayoral elections was non-transparent, and we expect – I personally expect - the Moldovan authorities to quickly find a way out of this unacceptable solution and to guarantee judicial independence in line with its international commitments," Mogherini added.
On June 25, Moldova's Supreme Court invalidated the results of the Chisinau mayoral election in a final ruling, citing illegal campaigning on the voting day as the reason for its decision.
Thousands of people protested in Chisinau against the court's decision. The people gathered in support of election winner Andrei Nastase, who defeated the Socialist candidate, Ion Ceban, in a runoff on June 3.
On June 28, the US embassy in Moldova called the court's ruling 'non-transparent' and said that it represents a threat to Moldovan democracy.
Chisinau mayor Dorin Chirtoaca resigned in February and was placed under house arrest after an investigation was launched against him over suspected influence peddling and abuse of power.
($=0.8542 euro)