Activity of the Government on June 2–15, 2003

Cabinet changes

Personnel changes in the Cabinet over the past two week included: First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ion Capatina; Deputy Chair of the Executive Committee, Secretary of the CIS, Director of the Law Department Vasile Cozma; Director of the Executive Board of the National Agency of Regulation of the Energy Sector Marin Profir: the First Deputy Director the Centre for Legislation Creation, Dumitru Baluta, and the Deputy Director Raisa Guzun. Ion Capatina was replaced by Andrei Stratan, National Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and Vasile Cozma was replaced by Oleg Botnari, who to date has been presidential advisor.

During the meeting on 11 June of the Cabinet of Ministers, Mihai Popov, Moldova’s Ambassador to Belgium, was appointed to cumulate the Ambassadorship of Moldova to the United Kingdom.

Decisions

On 2 June 2003, under the State Agency for Material Reserves and Humanitarian Aid, the Interdepartmental Commission for humanitarian Aid was set up to replace the Republican Commission for Humanitarian Aid led by the Deputy Prime Minister Valerian Cristea. During the Government meeting on the next day were approved the regulation, structure and personnel composition of the agency, as well as the regulation on the method of reception, preservation, distribution and record keeping of humanitarian aid granted to Moldova.

The Government proposed the preparation of a new draft of the Law on Entrepreneur Patents, which would allow for the decentralisation of the patents system through the delegation of the function of issue of patents from the central public bodies to the local ones. This amendment is intended to make the patent system more efficient, protect the local producer, the domestic market, diminish shadow economy and enhance the dialogue between local authorities and entrepreneurs.

Following the reversal of the 1998 territorial administrative reform and the local elections, the Government adopted on 7 June a decision to oblige the central executive bodies to reorganise by 1 July 2003 the devolved public services in districts in order to make the public services closer to the population closer in terms of administration and distance. Later have been approved the “structure and personnel composition of mayoralties of villages (communes), towns (municipalities)” and “the chart and personnel composition of the apparatus of chairs of districts, departments, divisions, other subdivisions from the subordination of the District Council”. Thus, the personnel of mayoralties of villages (communes) will be composed of 4 and 13,5 items; that of mayoralties of towns and municipalities, except the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti, between 8 and 26,5 items, and the apparatus of district chair and 7 subdivisions under the subordination of the District Council will be made up of 60,5–83 items. These figures, as well as the constitution of 270 new mayoralties following the reversal of the 1998 reform, along with the increase in the number of territorial-administrative units indicate a significant increase in the number of public officers in the country which involves the need for additional financial means to remunerate them.

The Government rejected the draft law whereby the General Mayor of Chisinau would be also member of the executive, on the pretext that this would contradict the principle of local autonomy, but not the fact that the residents of Chisinau represent a quarter of the Moldovan population, as well as the fact that the revenues from the capital to the state budget amount to 50–60%. All this in circumstances where Chisinau accounts for 23% of all production and income. This sets a precedent which shows the lack of an attitude that is fair and proportional with the weight of Chisinau given that the Governor of Gagauz Yeri retains the quality of member of the executive although the population of the autonomy represents approximately a quarter of population of Chisinau and its contribution to the state budget is inferior to that of Chisinau. Judging by the enormous support enjoyed by the communist candidate for the General Mayor of Chisinau on behalf of the President, who also has a lot of influence over the Cabinet, one can admit that the executive body could have overlooked the “principles of local autonomy” if the communist candidate was the one elected general mayor.

Following the signature of the Protocol between the Customs Offices between Moldova and Ukraine, according to which the Ukrainian authorities engaged to acknowledge only the customs stamps of Chisinau, the Government decided to allow the economic agents from the left bank of Nistru to register provisionally with the State register of Enterprises and Organisations in Moldova starting 10 June 2003.

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Activity of the Government on June 2–15, 2003

Cabinet changes

Decisions

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