| 17 September, Chisinau 
The Moldovan parliament is going to get closer to the standards and norms of the parliaments of the EU member states. This is the final goal of the first Twinning project with Moldova, financed by the European Commission (CE) and officially launched in Chisinau today. Twinning is an EU blueprint designed for the candidate states in order to gain experience for the enforcement of the European legislation. The project will be carried out jointly by the parliaments of France, Hungary and Moldova. The launching ceremony was attended by Moldovan Speaker Marian Lupu, his Hungarian counterpart, Katalin Szili, the head of the group of friendship with Moldova of the National Assembly of France, Claude Greff, and the head of the CE Delegation to Chisinau, Cesare de Montis, MPs and diplomats. Marian Lupu said that this Twinning project will stand as a union between the parliaments of the three participating countries for at least two years. One of the most important goals of this project is to support Moldova's European choice by making the activity of the Moldovan parliament more efficient. The project offers Moldova the opportunity to take over the most efficient practices from its French and Hungarian colleagues. It also points out the EU s special attention to Moldova's European aspirations, he said. For her part, Katalin Szili informed that Hungary had previously coordinated similar projects in other countries, but she noted that the project launched in Moldova is a special one. She added that it derives from the Moldovan-Hungarian long-lasting relations. Szili said that the Hungarian National Assembly will give the Moldovan parliament all the support necessary to align its activity to the standards of the European parliaments. During the launching ceremony, Claude Greff advocated a lucrative and efficient dialogue between the involved parliaments in order to contribute to the modernisation of Moldova's parliament. The Twinning project with Moldova was launched in July 2008 through the appointment of a permanent representative of the Hungarian National Assembly to Moldova. The representative will coordinate all the events developed within the project, among them: seminars, workshops and training visits for the Moldovan MPs and parliament s representatives. The project is to be concluded in July 2010 and CE will allot one million euros for its implementation.
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