On 11 December 2025, the Fifth Meeting of the Twinning Project Steering Committee dedicated to supporting the Competition Council of the Republic of Moldova (CCRM) took place.

The President of the CCRM, Alexei Gherțescu, highlighted the visible impact of the project on the institution’s activity, underlining in particular the substantial progress achieved in the drafting of the two key legislative acts — the Law on Competition and the Law on State Aid — which are currently in the process of adoption. He also acknowledged the cumulative effects of the training activities carried out under the project on the quality of investigations and decisions adopted by the authority. The President further referred to the recently adopted rules on access to investigation files, as well as to the support provided by the project experts in analysing essential aspects of several important cases.

The Project Leader, Cosmin Belacurencu, presented the activities implemented and results achieved during the reporting period (August–November) across the three components of the project. He commended the strong involvement of both the implementation team and the CCRM and reaffirmed the commitment to continue providing support for aligning the institution’s activities with EU standards, including in the assessment of State aid schemes.

The representative of the Romanian Ministry of Investments and European Projects, Irina Ionescu, presented the financial report for the reporting period, noting an appropriate level of budget execution within optimal parameters.

The Resident Twinning Adviser, Cristina Butacu, outlined the activity plan for the period December 2025 – May 2026, focusing on assistance with the transposition of competition and State aid legislation, the continuation of the assessment of State aid schemes for compliance with EU law, as well as the organisation of training activities for the authority’s staff and other relevant stakeholders.

The representative of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, Julda Kielyte, presented the main conclusions of the Enlargement Report on the negotiation chapter dedicated to competition, published by the European Commission on 4 November 2025. She emphasised the importance of further strengthening the administrative capacity of the CCRM, encouraging the continuation of active dialogue with the European Commission and enhanced cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, particularly with regard to raising awareness of State aid requirements.

All parties noted the very good progress of the project and reaffirmed their commitment to continue efforts to achieve the objectives set for the forthcoming period.

The Twinning Project “Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Competition Council to enforce competition policy and State aid rules in line with EU best practices” is funded by the European Union and implemented by Romania, Lithuania and Poland over a period of 27 months.