The Growth Plan for Moldova

Summary

On 10 October 2024, the European Commission proposed a  Growth Plan  for the Republic of Moldova (hereinafter Moldova), worth up to EUR 1.9 billion for 2025-2027. The Growth Plan is underpinned by a Reform and Growth Facility – the financial instrument – and the funding is conditional on Moldova’s fulfilment of reforms agreed between the EU and the Government of Moldova in the so-called Reform Agenda for Moldova.  

This is the largest ever EU financial support package for Moldova. It will support Moldova’s economic convergence with the EU over the next decade and help bring the country closer to EU membership by accelerating reforms and improving Moldova’s access to the EU’s single market. In addition, the Growth Plan will mobilise investments for jobs and growth and, most importantly, transform the lives of ordinary citizens.

In March 2025, the Regulation establishing the Reform and Growth Facility was approved by the Council and the European Parliament.

At the first-ever EU-Moldova Summit in July 2025, President von der Leyen announced the release of EUR 270 million in pre-financing under the Growth Plan. 

In September 2025, the European Commission made the first regular payment under the Growth Plan, following its assessment that Moldova had met four reform indicators from its Reform Agenda.  These reforms included the development of open and competitive electricity and gas markets, as well as measures to guarantee energy security. The fulfilment of these reforms unlocked funding worth EUR 18.9 million. 

At the same time, the European Commission also launched a Call for Expressions of Interest and called on businesses to invest in the country.

Structure of the Growth Plan

The Growth Plan has three clear objectives:

1. Accelerate socio-economic and fundamental reforms

These reforms are set out in the Reform Agenda, and fulfilling the agreed reform steps is required to unlock Growth Plan funding. The reform steps are closely aligned with Moldova’s accession process, so fulfilling them also brings Moldova closer to EU membership. The reforms are clustered around seven categories:

• Promoting economic competitiveness and private sector development - improving the business environment and SME support, implementing the new industrial policy and promoting exports and investments.​
• Strengthening connectivity, digital infrastructure, and structural reforms to close Moldova’s connectivity gap in key sectors such as transport, spatial development and digital.​
• Improving economic governance - strengthening public finance management and competition policy, improving financial control and addressing inefficiencies of the state-owned enterprises.​
• Increasing social capital by supporting reforms in the areas of education, skills, inclusive employment and labour market opportunities, social protection and health. ​
• Supporting the green transition to help Moldova decarbonise its economy, improve its climate resilience, resource productivity, circularity and biodiversity protection.​
• Improving energy security and efficiency and reducing dependency on energy imports.​
• Finally, strengthening the rule of law, the judiciary, the fight against corruption and organised crime and speeding up the reform of Moldova’s public administration. ​

2. Enhance access to the EU’s single market​

The Moldova Growth Plan will help Moldova make full use of the opportunities offered by the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), and participate in EU programmes and policies, subject to Moldova’s alignment with the relevant EU rules. 

The Growth Plan proposes immediate steps that Moldova can take to reap the benefits of the single market in five key areas, once the required standards are met:

• Free movement of goods & integration in supply chains
• Facilitation of trade & transport connections
• Integration into the EU energy market and decarbonisation
• Integration into the Digital Market
• Access to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)

3. Increase financial assistance to support the implementation of socio-economic and fundamental reforms and help trigger investments

Moldova is undertaking reforms for its socio-economic development. This includes investing in economic competitiveness and economic resilience, notably in energy and connectivity infrastructure, economic governance, social capital, and the green transition.

This investment together with the related reforms will help attract foreign investment, improve the business environment, support small and medium sized enterprises, improve skills and qualifications and strengthen trade and exports. Altogether, this will help to increase Moldova’s economic convergence with the EU.

Through a dedicated Reform and Growth Facility for Moldova, the EU is making available unprecedented funding to finance these large-scale reforms. In addition, the funding under the Growth Plan will help leverage investments from both the public and private sectors.

The Reform and Growth Facility

The Reform and Growth Facility Regulation entered into force on 22 May 2025.

Financial support under the facility will only be disbursed upon the successful implementation of reforms in the Reform Agenda. The Reform Agenda was prepared by the Moldovan government and negotiated with the European Commission.

Payments under the facility

In the Reform Agenda, reforms are split into quantitative and qualitative steps, which serve as payment conditions. Each step has a deadline for its implementation.

Payments from the facility are subject to strict conditionality. There are three sets of conditions: preconditions, general conditions and performance conditions:

• Pre-conditions include the continued upholding of and respect for democratic principles.
• General conditions include macro-financial stability, sound public financial management, transparency and oversight of the budget. Both general and pre-conditions must be fulfilled at all times.
• Performance conditions are defined in the Reform Agenda and determine the value of individual payments. The more performance conditions are met, the greater the amount of the disbursement.

Payments are carried out twice a year. Following Moldova’s request for payment, the Commission assesses whether the general conditions and pre-conditions are met and to what extent the relevant performance conditions have been achieved. In case the necessary conditions are not met, the Commission will suspend or deduct a corresponding amount from the payment.

Reform and Growth Facility Scoreboard

The scoreboard below displays the progress in the implementation of the Reform and Growth Facility, including the Reform Agenda steps fulfilled and the amounts disbursed so far.