4th SHADOW REPORT. Year 2018. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS. National Action Plan for the Implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement NAPIAA II (2017-2019)

INTRODUCTION

Starting 2015, the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) had been monitoring the implementation of the commitments, set out in the EU-Moldova Association Agreement and for the purpose of its evaluation, publishes its periodic shadow reports. The most recent IPRE Shadow Report was published on 10 September 2018 and focused on the evaluation of the implementation of the 2017- 2019 National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Association Agreement (NAPIAA II) during Semester I, 20181.

The purpose of this Shadow report is to offer an independent quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the results achieved by the end of 2018 (2nd Semester) in implementing the commitments of the Association Agreement, in line with the objectives set out in the NAPIAA II.

IPRE shadow monitoring has three main objectives and in particular (1) offer the wider public and the media a shadow assessment to that of the Government on the progress in the implementation of the commitments set forth in the Association Agreement with the EU; (2) increase the level of accountability of authorities with respect to the domestic reforms agenda and (3) supplement the efforts of the civil society and development partners in evaluating the progress in the implementation of domestic reforms related to the Association Agreement.

The quantitative evaluation implies the evaluation of the measures foreseen in the NAPIAAA II with the deadline of implementation 31st of December 2018. The quantitative analysis is further supplemented withan indicator of implementation effort undertaken by the national authorities. Additionally, the Report includes a qualitative analysis of the key areas relevant to the five Titles of the Association Agreement. The qualitative analysis contains key conclusions and recommendations on the assessed findings until the 1st of March 2019.

The report is structured in six chapters. The first chapter includes (1) the general quantitative assessment of the pace of implementation of the 953 evaluated measures until the end of 2018, but also (2) the overall implementation ratio assessed against those 1459 measures planned in NAPIAA II for 2017-2019 until the end of 2019. These assessments include also (3) a comparative analysis of the results registered in all 5 Titles of the Association Agreement, taking into account the previous evaluation timeframes. The first part concludes with the main qualitative conclusions of the Report, offering a list of key recommendations on measures to be taken by the end of 2019. The other chapters of the Report contain quantitative and qualitative assessments on each of the five monitored Titles (Title II-VI) of the NAPIAA II. Finally, after each analysed chapter, a set of detailed conclusions and recommendations are formulated.