Activity of the Parliament on December 1–16, 2007

Appointments

Denis Vition was relieved from the office of Supreme Court of Justice judge;
The Parliament has appointed three members of the Certification Commission: Communist Deputy Gheorghe Popa; the chairwoman of the Association of Veterans, Ala Mironic (PCRM member), and Galina Bostan, director of the Corruption Analysis and Combat Centre.

Legal acts

Law on tobacco and tobacco products. It establishes the legal, economic and social basis of organisation of growing, post-crop and industrial tobacco processing, importation, making, storing and sale of tobacco products, and regulates the related relations. Debates on this law gave birth to proposals and amendments from lawmakers of the opposition and majority. The main provisions which fuelled debates envisage the prohibition of smoking in public places, ban of tobacco advertising in mass media and cinema theatres, and mandatory warnings. Although some provisions have been improved, representatives of the NGO coalition for the promotion of tobacco control policies fear that the law will not essentially change the present situation. Objections of NGO representatives envisage the absence of clear and adequate sanctions for violation of new norms, the lack of a body in charge with controlling the respect for the law and mechanism of communication of breaches, superficial participation of the Ministry of Health in improving the draft and its further enforcement, etc.

Laws on modification and completion of legal acts (revision of legislation within the Guillotine II mechanism). Under the approved documents, the Law # 235-XVI from 20.07.2006 on basic regulatory principles of entrepreneurship has been transposed in business regulation laws. Important innovations envisaged:

The legislation regulating the licensing of some activities have been modified (introduction of new licensing principles, clear and univocal criteria to establish the licensed activities, clear notions and new definitions; introduction of single and balanced grounds and procedures for issuance, suspension and withdrawal of licences, control on licensing requirements; free (online) public access to licensing registers).
Introduction of sanctions for public functionaries who violate their duties regarding settlement of applications (for licences, permits, certificates, notices, authorisations, coordination, other similar administrative operations), which allow applicants to start up and/or develop a business.
The law on normative acts of the Government and other central and local public authorities stipulates the predictable entrepreneurship regulatory principles, decision-making transparency principle and entrepreneurship regulation, principle of analysis of regulatory impact.

Law on modification of legal acts (procedure of validation of lawmaker’s mandate). Under the law, after the Parliament announces the vacancy of a lawmaker’s mandate, the Central Electoral Commission considers within ten days the alternate candidate from the list of the party, social-political organisation or electoral bloc which mandate becomes vacant and raises the candidacy to the Constitutional Commission in order to validate it. At present, the CEC examines such issues only at the request of the electoral competitor, and the law does not stipulate the ex officio appealing, a situation which has already turned into a conflict (the representative of a party which withdrew later from the electoral bloc Democratic Moldova was not validated because the Our Moldova Alliance leadership did not officially appeal to the CEC).

Law extending the mandate of local council and mayor of the Corjova village, Dubasari district. The law is adopted through waiver from the Electoral Code and local public administration law, exceptionally extending the mandate of the local council and mayor of the Corjova village, Dubasari district as long as democratic, free and fair elections accordingly to the effective Moldovan and international legislation cannot be held, but not later than the 2011 general local elections. The special waiver law was necessary because now the legislation extends the mandate of local councillor and mayor under an organic law, only in case of a war or catastrophe, and the situation in the Corjova village where separatist authorities obstruct the elections does not correspond to legal norms and does not find a general solution.

Laws on ratification of international acts:

Optional Protocol to the (New-York, 1966) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This document recognises the competence of the U.N. Human Rights Committee to receive and consider communications against the Moldovan jurisdiction from individuals who claim to be victims of violation of a right guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
The Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, on Transplantation of Organs and Tissues of Human Origin (Strasbourg, 2002);

Law on state social insurance budget for 2008. The incomes will exceed 6.25 billion lei and expenses will be higher than 6.27 billion lei, with a reserve fund of 135 million lei. The mandatory individual state social insurance contribution for insured salary earners employed under individual labour contracts or other contracts on work and services is 5 percent of the monthly salaries and other pays, but the annual calculation basis will not exceed 3 medium monthly salaries planned on economy multiplied with 12.

Law on mandatory health insurance funds for 2008. The revenues will account for 2.6 billion lei, by 708 million lei (36.6 percent) more than in 2007. The mandatory insurance policy for payers who do not have a permanent salary will cost 1,893 lei, while those who pay the insurance premium within three months after enforcement of this law benefit of a 50-percent discount. The mandatory health insurance premium calculated in percent per salary and other earnings is 6 percent (3 percent for employer and 3 percent for employee).

Law on modification and completion of the 2007 state budget law. The amendments increase the incomes by 919.9 million lei and the expenses by 1,126,900 lei. The highest incomes are expected from income taxes (128.3 million lei), VAT (361.2 million lei), excises (37.7 million lei), taxes on foreign trade (73.1 million lei), traffic taxes (10.6 million lei), and grants (84.7 million lei). As regards expenses, the main additional allocations will cover the shortage for salaries and pensions of military — 247.7 million lei; shortage in connection with salary rise this year — 189.7 million lei; road renovation — 132.3 million lei; internal state debt service in connection with the rise of interest rate on internal loans — 69.5 million lei; completion of the statutory fund of the state railroad company CFM — 92 million lei; allocation of 64.7 million lei for agriculture to purchase seeds, diesel oil and forage from humanitarian aid granted by foreign governments and agencies after the last summer drought; opening of machine and tractor stations — 16.3 million lei; implementation of the customs system consolidation plan — 78.5 million lei; for the complex programme on use of new fields and enhancing of soil fertility — 38 million lei; reimbursement of preferential loans granted to some categories of population and payment of afferent interests — 33.5 million lei; acquisition of the headquarter of the Moldovan Embassy in Prague — 39 million; 9.7 million lei for the Teleradio-Moldova Company to pay the rent of circuits and broadcasters and other expenses; purchase of furniture and other modern equipment for health institutions of the Curative-Sanitary Association and Interior Ministry — 8.1 million lei; renovation of the TB hospital Vorniceni and recovery centre for children with a severe locomotive handicap — 41.0 million lei; enlargement of the forest fund — 20 million lei; natural gas networks — 32.3 million lei.

Decision approving the 2008 expense estimate of the Parliament. The budgetary expenses for the maintenance of the Parliament accounted for about 64 million lei in 2007 and nearly 53 million lei in 2006. The draft published on the parliamentary website was not accompanied by an argumentation note, and the website does not provide detailed information about allocations for the work of the speaker and his deputies, parliamentary factions and permanent commissions. It is worth to note that under the Law # 430-XVI from 27.12.2006, the provision requiring the verification and approval of the report on execution of the Parliament’s budget after a control by the specialised parliamentary commission was excluded from the Parliament Regulation. Experts note that this situation reduced very much the transparency of management of budgetary funds, though the Chamber of Auditors has signalled breaches related to financial and material management of the funds allocated to legislature and law courts demanded the publishing of expenses of this institution.

Decision approving the 2008 budget of the National Commission of Financial Market (NCFM). NCFM will have revenues worth 13,080,800 lei and expenses in the amount of 12,626,300 lei in 2008. It approves the size of taxes and fees collected by the commission, pay conditions for members of the Management Board and commission employees. The revenues accounted for 10 million lei in 2006 and for more than 12.5 million lei in 2007.

Parliamentary control. Statements

Hearings

Prosecutor-general has assured lawmakers that competent authorities do their best to elucidate the circumstances of the 2002 disappearance of Deputy Vlad Cubreacov. Penal investigations are being conducted but there is a shortage of evidence to draw a clear and prompt conclusion in order to confirm or deny the version based on statements by Cubreacov or two former members of the party, Ion Neagu and Sergiu Burca. The Prosecutor’s Office and the Interior Ministry need more time to elucidate the circumstances.

Questions. Interpellations

The Our Moldova Alliance (OMA) faction has asked the Chamber of Auditors to control the activity of the TeleRadio-Moldova Company and appealed to the Prosecutor-General’s Office to verify the legality of the contest held to select an auditing company in order to control the financial-economic management. The Licensing Chamber was asked to verify a report by the firm employed by TeleRadio-Moldova, audit standards and accordance of the work of the Industrial Consult Company with the licence.

Social Liberal Deputy Valentina Stratan has asked the Building and Territorial Development Agency to argue the November 16, 2007 Order # 149, which prohibited the final reception of the so-called “white version” unfinished works and facilities. She demanded the agency to explain the “white version” term and to report its economic costs; also, the agency was asked if entrepreneurs, associations in charge with protection of consumer rights have been consulted.

Christian Democratic Deputy Ion Varta has asked the Government to provide conclusive information and objectives regarding the 2007 imports and exports, to report the volumes and countries where Moldovan products are imported and exported. This interpellation aims to establish whether any qualitative changes where achieved for exports and imports and whether the governmental policies in this area are efficient or not.

Democratic Deputy Valentina Buliga has asked the Government to report the state of things at SA Farmaco, the use of 16 million lei from the state budget to sustain this enterprise, the impact on drug nomenclature and prices. Also, the lawmaker demanded information regarding Government’s plans to privatise the enterprise. She sought a report on the cost-efficiency impact of the Government Decision # 1123 from 15.10.2007 concerning supply of public health services with antibiotics made by this enterprise only.

Statements

Speaker Marian Lupu has told a meeting with the Council of Europe director-general for political affairs, Jean-Louis Laurens, that the Parliament has honoured almost all commitments towards CoE, except for two documents: the draft law on political parties and the draft Education Code. According to the speaker, the draft law on political parties will be examined in the final reading by the end of the current session, and the Parliament will consider the draft Education Code and the draft law on local public finances at the beginning of the 2008 spring session and will deliver them to the CoE after the first reading. However, independent experts note that Moldovan authorities did not honour other commitments toward CoE, in particular:

The guaranteeing of the complete execution of the parliamentarian’s mandate without worrying to lose the mandate or immunity for political reasons;
The adjustment of legislation and norms on status of the Chisinau municipality to the European Chart on Local Self-Administration;
The adjustment of legislation and norms on local public funds to the European Chart on Local Self-Administration;
The condemnation of the dismissal of the Comrat mayor by the Gagauz People’s Assembly and investigation of lots of criminal cases filed against opposition leaders at national and local levels;
The reformation of the judiciary by revising the extended competences of the Prosecutor-General’s Office;
The development of the multicultural and pluralist education approach, in particular, in terms of teaching languages, history and geography;
The transformation of the TeleRadio-Moldova Company into an authentic public broadcasting service;
The ensuring of the freedom of meetings (the adoption of the new law on this area), and others.

National Liberal Party leader Vitalia Pavlicenco has released a statement on “inadmissible conduct of Communist Voronin,” accusing the chief of state of groundless assaults on Romania and threat to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, and recommending again the Parliament to consider the problem of revocation of the chief of state.

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