Eurasia Lab & Fellowship Program – “EU external anti-corruption promotion. A case study on the Republic of Moldova”
Between December 2020 and May 2021, Mihai-Razvan Corman and Eliana Coraci from the Moldovan-German Forum (FMG) have implemented a project on the EU external anti-corruption promotion in Moldova, with the support of the Berlin-based think-tank Institut für Europaische Politik within the framework of the “Eurasia Lab & Fellowship Program”.
This research project had the overall objective of identifying the underlying factors that favour EU anti-corruption promotion in Moldova. The assumptions that the team aimed to test was whether the EU’s anti-corruption capability, i.e. its ability to monitor and enforce the adoption and implementation of anti-corruption rules in Moldova, is strong in areas where the scope of EU legal competences and the acquis is wide and, in contrast, weak in areas where there are scarce EU legal competences and the acquis is underdeveloped.
The project, thus, intended to offer new policy-relevant findings, contributing to rethinking and reprioritizing EU anti-corruption promotion. To attain these research objectives, the team analysed two policy areas: a more technical policy area where the EU seems to have a variety of legally binding instruments against corruption – namely, the policy against fraud for the protection of the EU’s financial interests – and a politically highly sensitive area where the EU has no instruments whatsoever – the policy area against illegal party funding.
To learn more about this project and its findings, you can listen to the episodes on several platforms: Spotify, Breaker (suggested for listeners from Moldova), Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Anchor.
Trailer – EU external anti-corruption promotion. A case study on Moldova
On Spotify, Breaker and Anchor.
Episode 1 – Playing with fire: corruption in Moldova
In this first episode we illustrate the extent of corruption in the country and its devastating effects regarding market economy, foreign direct investments and even migratory flows.
On Spotify, Breaker and Anchor.
Episode 2 – Key external anti-corruption actors in Moldova
In this episode we discuss two main actors that are engaged in tackling corruption internationally – the European Union and the Council of Europe. As we will see, both actors are actively engaged in Moldova and therefore are a significant factor in Moldova’s fight against corruption.
On Spotify, Breaker and Anchor.
Episode 3 – The “Brussels effect” in the policy area against fraud for the protection of the EU’s financial interests
In this episode we discuss how the EU actually operationalises anti-corruption vis-à-vis Moldova. In other words, what are the legally binding tools, through which the EU tries to achieve its ambitious anti-corruption objectives in Moldova?
On Spotify, Breaker and Anchor.
Episode 4 – Too little, too late? EU anticorruption capability in the area of illegal party funding
In this episode we discuss political party funding and the changing of the electoral system in Moldova. We look at the evaluations from the Venice Commission in 2014 and 2017 and we explain why the EU’s action in the field of political party funding relies heavily on the instruments of the Council of Europe.
On Spotify, Breaker and Anchor.
Episode 5 – Conclusions and Reccommendations
In this episode we discuss we discuss the who, what, when, how, where and why of our project, we sum up our research results and we outline our main recommendations.
On Spotify, Breaker and Anchor.
Our team:
Mihai-Razvan Corman is a PhD Researcher at Ghent University and an Independent Consultant for the European Commission and various international think tanks. He is a graduate in law from Humboldt University in Berlin and the College of Europe.
Eliana Coraci is a researcher and a security analyst, currently working for an International Organisation in Brussels. She graduated from the College of Europe with a full EU-ENP Scholarship. Her main interest lies in disinformation and capacity building in the Eastern Partnership.
Mihai and Eliana are members and research fellows of the Moldovan-German Forum.
