Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru was presented to the institution’s staff by Prime Minister Dorin Recean on Friday, February 17. The head of the government said that the most difficult reform that Moldova has to carry out is that of justice.

“We have a clear task to reform the system, to encourage as many honest people as possible to come forward and take on the task of running this system. I am confident that Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru will lead us in an accelerated way on this path,” reads a social media post by the prime minister.

“The current context in the justice sector is very complicated,” the new minister also stressed in a message published after the government was sworn in.

“But we will certainly continue our actions to reform justice in all its segments (the process of filtering and verifying the integrity of justice actors, the promotion of the package of laws on the reform of the Supreme Court of Justice, the delimitation of the competences of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Centre, the revision of legislation to simplify the procedures for examining criminal cases, the adoption of new laws on access to information and personal data, digitisation in the justice sector, and much more). No matter how many bottlenecks or signs of resistance there will be, the changes in justice must be continued and accelerated.

Reforms must be made in the interest of the citizen, but also to restore trust in honest justice professionals. And I believe that in this complex process, we must have much broader but constructive support and involvement from everyone, including representatives of the judiciary,” said Mihailov-Moraru.

Veronica Mihailov-Moraru has been State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice since August 2021. She also held this position in 2019. Veronica Mihailov-Moraru holds a law degree, a master’s degree in law, trainer and consultant in several projects related to justice and human rights. She also held the position of President of Amnesty International Moldova and member and Chair of the Licensing Commission of the Lawyers Union.

Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) deputy Lilian Carp previously said that Sergiu Litvinenco refused to be part of the new government’s line-up.

Members of the government led by Dorin Recean were sworn in at the Presidency on Thursday 16 February.

On Thursday, 16 February, Parliament gave its vote of confidence to the work programme of the government led by Dorin Recean and the entire government list. The list of ministries was also approved.

Among the objectives set by the Government are:

• Opening negotiations for accession to the European Union and speeding up the integration process;
• Development of the mechanism for ensuring discipline and evaluation of public authorities and state-owned enterprises, as well as definition of appropriate performance criteria for their work;
• Promote measures to deregulate the economy, eliminate bureaucratic barriers and excessive regulatory procedures for entrepreneurs;
• Creating the preconditions for launching new businesses by facilitating the opening, development and internationalisation of businesses, supporting SMEs through financing and training programmes;
• Increasing the inflow of foreign and local investment in all areas, including industry, IT, agro-processing enterprises and post-harvest infrastructure.

On 10 February 2023, Moldovan President Maia Sandu signed the decree nominating Dorin Recean as candidate for the post of Prime Minister after Natalia Gavrilița resigned.