Republic of Moldova Action Plan Review 2023-2025

The Republic of Moldova’s fifth OGP action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... covers priority areas for the country’s accession to the European Union (EU). It features promising commitments on implementation of the new access to information law and improving public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... in decision-making. Active engagement of the lead agencies and consistent collaboration with civil society will be key to successful implementation.

The Republic of Moldova’s fifth action plan (2023-2025) has six commitments. Most commitments follow or expand policy areas covered in previous action plans, such as access to information, public participation, anti-corruption, and public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t.... Capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac... and skills development are cross-cutting themes for all commitments.

The European Council granted EU candidate status to the Republic of Moldova on 23 June 2022. In December 2023, the Council opened accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova, commending its progress in meeting the objectives under its candidate status.[1] Since receiving candidate status, the government has adopted many policy documents, strategies, and action plans to align with the EU acquis. The need to balance these tasks has stretched the capacities of the government agencies involved in OGP, and government and civil society stakeholders see the OGP process as complementary to these reforms. At the same time, Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine has impacted the resources of the public administration, with the country experiencing economic and humanitarian crises.[2] These internal and external factors could distract political attention away from the OGP process during implementation.

The co-creation process started in May 2023 with the establishment of a new Coordination Committee (the country’s multi-stakeholder forum). The new committee differs in composition from previous committees by the involvement of high-level government officials, the increase in membership, and the balanced civil society and government representation (five government and five civil society representatives). The co-creation processes reflected the IRM’s past recommendations around setting a co-creation timeline, identifying potential priorities, and revisiting the committee’s composition, mandate, and governing structure. The State Chancellery collected proposals via an open questionnaire and organized a public consultation in August 2023 to discuss the draft plan and collect additional ideas.[3] The government and the Council of Europe also held events with local authorities on the possibilities of engaging in the national OGP action plan and in the OGP Local program.^[4]

Stakeholders praised the State Chancellery’s efforts in organizing the co-creation process, given the tight deadline, limited human resources, and the challenging political context. For future action plans, stakeholders recommended extending outreach further, for example through social networks and mass media and by organizing more public meetings.[5] These activities could take place before and during the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive..., as part of the preparation.

Civil society generally assessed the action plan positively, as it covers major priorities for the country’s EU accession.[6] However, they thought the ambition might have benefited from comprehensive actions in anti-corruption, open data, and fiscal transparency. During the co-creation process, the Coordination Committee agreed that the action plan would not copy the activities from other strategies or policy documents, but rather would take an open government approach to implementing these strategies and documents.[7] As the government has adopted a large number of strategies in 2023, only narrow sets of activities were included in most commitments, even though the areas addressed by these commitments often include larger challenges. For example, the government withdrew a commitment on e-democracy because of its duplication with the Strategy for Digital Transformation.[8]

The IRM has identified two commitments as promising. Under CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... 1, the State Chancellery will monitor and support the implementation of the Law on Access to Information of Public Interest. For Commitment 2, the State Chancellery has set ambitious targets for improving transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and participation in the decision-making process. The other commitments are less ambitious. Commitment 3 could improve the digitization of the correctional services, but it is unclear if it will improve their transparency or accountability. Commitment 4 focuses on improving the Republic of Moldova’s reporting on its implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, one of several anti-corruption tools the country has at its disposal. Commitment 5 aims to engage civil society in budget monitoring and the EU accession process but does not include institutional support by the government. Finally, Commitment 6 supports new regulations and policies aimed at improving transparency in public procurement, complementing the steps planned in the National Program on Developing Public Procurement 2023-2026.

Successful implementation of the action plan will require consistent work of the government, and particularly the State Chancellery as the coordinating agency. It will be critical to mobilize both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, including those outside the Coordination Committee, to achieve the targets and ensure the timeliness and quality of implementation.[9]

Promising Commitments in the Republic of Moldova 2023-2025 Action Plan

The following review looks at the two commitments that the IRM identified as having the potential to realize the most promising results. Promising commitments address a policy area that is important to stakeholders or the national context. They must be verifiable, have a relevant open government lens, and have modest or substantial potential for results. This review also provides an analysis of challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to contribute to the learning and implementation process of this action plan.

Table 1. Promising commitments

[1] Council of the European Union, EU Enlargement Policy, Moldova, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/enlargement/moldova/

[2] Republic of Moldova parliament, DECISION No. 41 of 24.02.2022 on the declaration of the state of emergency, https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=130079&lang=ro

[3] See https://cancelaria.gov.md/ro/content/comitetul-de-coordonare-pentru-guvernare-deschisa-s-intrunit-sedinta

[4] Government of the Republic of Moldova, Informative Note to the Government Disposition on the approval of priority areas and commitments for open government for 2023-2025, https://cancelaria.gov.md/sites/default/files/9._nota_informativa_la_pgd_2023-2025.pdf

[5] Maria Covalciuc (Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER)), Diana Enachi (IDIS “Viitorul”), Nicolae Panfil (Promo-LEX), Veronica Cretu, interviews by the IRM, January 2024.

[6] Nicolae Panfil (Promo-LEX), Ianina Spinea (TI-Moldova), Veronica Cretu (Governance and Data4Development Expert, Envoy with the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More, Access Info Group at the Council of Europe, Moldova4EU Diaspora Task Force), interviews by the IRM, January 2024.

[7] Natalia Postica (State Chancellery of the Republic of Moldova), interview by the IRM, 19 December 2023; Maria Covalciuc (Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER)), interview by the IRM, 25 January 2024, Diana Enachi (IDIS “Viitorul”), interview by the IRM, 29 January 2024.

[8] Natalia Postica (State Chancellery of the Republic of Moldova), interview by the IRM, 19 December 2023.

[9] Ana Calinici (State Chancellery of the Republic of Moldova), Anastasiya Kozlovtseva (Open Government Partnership), Veronica Cretu (Governance and Data4Development Expert, Envoy with the Open Government Partnership, Access Info Group at the Council of Europe, Moldova4EU Diaspora Task Force), interviews by the IRM, January 2024.