Moldovan prime minister Iurie Leancă (Wikimedia/Longin Wawrynkiewicz)

CHISINAU - Moldovan prime minister Iurie Leancă has thanked the EBU for its assistance to Teleradio Moldova (TRM) and pledged his support to the Union's Moldovan Member.

"We want a public broadcaster which is competitive locally compared to private TV channels but also competitive with regional TV channels - not just Russian but also Romanian," Mr Leancă said in a meeting in the Moldovan capital on 2 October with delegations from the EBU and TRM.

Mr Leancă thanked former EBU Vice-President Boris Bergant, now a senior consultant for the EBU Partnership Programme, for his role in developing TRM's five-year strategy, currently being implemented. And he promised to look into TRM's proposal to take up a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to finance digitalisation of production at TRM. Such a loan would require a government guarantee.

Moldova faces parliamentary elections in 2014.  Mr Leancă said he wanted to ensure that TRM continues on its "good path", providing impartial news and a platform also for the country's opposition.

EBU Head of Member Relations David Lewis briefed the prime minister on the prospects of a Memorandum of Understanding between the EBU and the European Union on strengthening public service media in the EU's so-called European Neighbourhood countries, which include Moldova.

Supported by the EBU Partnership Programme, the Eurovision ACADEMY will be working in Chisinau later this month,  to advise TRM on implementing a new incentive-based salary system.

TRM has an annual income of only around €7 million euros.