According to the Guidelines, limitations on donations “have been shown to be effective in minimizing the possibility of corruption or the purchasing of political influence”; they should be “carefully balanced between ensuring that there is no distortion in the political process in favour of wealthy interests and in encouraging political participation”. As the 2013 Joint Opinion noted, “one may assume that the lower the ceiling, the greater the number and variety of private donors required to fund the activities of a political party. ”Therefore, it supported the much lower ceilings foreseen in the draft amendments, i.e. respectively 20 and 40 average salaries for individuals and legal entities. GRECO also supported the planned decrease in the limits on donations, which had been considered “clearly too high in the light of Moldova's social and economic situation” (but no concrete recommendation was made because of the limited scope of GRECO’s third evaluation round). In this connection, GRECO referred to statements that the political class was “too heavily influenced by a narrow circle of private individuals and undertakings.”