Moldova’s prime minister Pavel Filip admitted on February 2 that there are “serious delays” to the schedule for implementing the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union, Timpul daily reported.

Full compliance with the Association Agreement is one of the conditions set out by Romania if it is to continue providing financial assistance to Moldova. A €150mn loan, already endorsed by Romania’s parliament but put on hold amid political volatility in Moldova, is Chisinau’s best hope of obtaining external financing, although it also hopes to secure a credit line from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under a new stand-by agreement.

Some 60%-65% of the AA’s provisions are in place at this moment, Filip said after a government meeting. He has instructed his ministers to come up with specific action plans in order to eliminate the delays within 30 days.

Among the key actions expected from Moldova’s government by Bucharest are the transparent appointment of an independent governor of the central bank, strengthening the role of the central bank with a view to streamlining the banking sector, the initiation of procedures for an agreement with the IMF and an updated draft of the action plan for judicial reforms.

Filip’s cabinet, appointed in January by a fragile parliamentary majority, was received with scepticism by civic society and the opposition, and its support among voters is extremely thin. The government’s fragile credibility is mainly due to alleged pressures from controversial oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc on MPs when the parliamentary majority was formed.