Written question asked by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 22 June 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 June 2006. It was answered by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Monday, 3 July 2006 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Moldova

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the ability of the judiciary in Moldova to act independently of Government.

Answer: Like other former Soviet Union members, Moldova has had to create an independent judiciary system from scratch. While there has been some progress, the Government share the assessments by the European Commission and the Council of Europe that there is still much to do. We continue to take every opportunity to remind the authorities in Chisinau that this is essential for closer integration with the EU states, and to urge and assist them to adopt the necessary legislation as required by the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan for Moldova.

Secondary information