Activity of the Parliament on April 1–15, 2008

Appointments. Dismissals

Under parliamentary decisions:

Vitalie Tabunscic was appointed member of the electronic media watchdog CCA for a 6-year term;
Tudor Tataru was nominated member of the Board of Observers of national public broadcasting company TeleRadio-Moldova for a 4-year term;
Mihai Poalelungi was relieved from the posts of judge and deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of Justice and chairman of the civil and administrative college of SCJ under his own demand (as he was nominated judge to the ECHR).

Legal acts

Law on completion of the law concerning declaration and control of incomes and estate of dignitaries. Under completions, within ten days after the deadline for presentation of declarations, the central control commission shall deliver copies of declarations by judges to the Superior Council of Magistracy in order to publish them on its website.

Note by ADEPT: by completing this law, the Parliament has partly approached the transparency issue, avoiding a compulsory publication of all declarations by first-ranking dignitaries on website, though such an initiative was raised long ago and experts said that transparency in this area is an efficient method to prevent and combat corruption at a high level.

Law banning the dual citizenship. A certain circle of holders of dual citizenship will be restricted from running public offices, in particular, members of the Parliament, the chief of state, members of the Government, judges, security officers, local elected officials, functionaries provided access to state secrets, other public functionaries. Persons willing to run these offices will have to confirm their renunciation or an ongoing procedure needed to renounce the citizenship of another country, or withdraw their applications for a foreign citizenship.

Note by ADEPT: It was earlier signalled the discriminatory power of this document and the possibility to use it with the purpose to exclude some electoral contestants, as well as to comb out public administration functionaries. The lack of clear provisions on renunciation or declaration to renounce the citizenship of another country will harden the enforcement and could allow an abusive, discretionary application of these regulations.

Law on modification and completion of the Election Code. The document brings new regulations, in particular, it raised the electoral threshold from 4 up to 6 percent; bans electoral blocs; specifies restrictions to elect and to be elected (for persons sentenced to jail terms, those with effective criminal records); explains provisions on suspension of dignitaries from their offices; inclusion into ballots by drawing, etc. Only the PCRM and CDPP factions have backed these modifications.

Law on modification of the law on migration. Under the law, the Government will establish the immigration quota in future after consultations with the Interior Ministry but only for labour purposes. This way, authorities hope to attract foreign investments and open new jobs in Moldova.

Draft law on protection of witnesses and other participants in criminal proceedings. The document regulates the ensuring of security of participants in criminal cases whose lives, body integrity, freedom or property are threatened, as they hold data that they accepted to provide or cogent evidence of grave or very crimes. The document is part of the EU-Moldova Action Plan and priorities of intensifying the fight against organised crime.

Draft law declaring the construction of the Cahul-Giurgiulesti railway as a public utility of national interest. Private assets (fields and constructions) near villages and communes of Manta, Colibasi, Brinza, Valeni, Slobozia Mare and Cislita-Prut, the district of Cahul, will be objects of expropriation for public utility cause. The Government will take all necessary measures on behalf of the state to expropriate assets located in the area of public utility works.

Note by ADEPT: Opposition lawmakers did not warm this law, fearing that the planned expropriations are not “fairly compensated” in compliance with relevant constitutional norms (Article 46 (2) of Constitution), while the Government proposes derisory prices to landowners (maximum 56,000 lei per hectare). Also, they accused that the construction concerned affects the environment in the region.

Parliamentary control. Statements

The parliamentary majority has turned down initiatives by opposition factions and lawmakers:

to create a parliamentary commission to investigate the case of Valeriu Pasat, former minister of defence;
to invite a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration to report the signing by Moldova of a bilateral agreement on small border traffic with Romania;
to create a parliamentary commission to investigate the seizure of a large quantity of drugs, a case involving high-ranking officials of the Interior Ministry.

Questions, Interpellations

The first deputy prosecutor-general has notified the Parliament that:

a very large quantity of drugs was discovered and Interior Ministry functionaries are involved;
circumstances of the sale of the Ghindesti-based SA Fabrica de Zahar are being developed.

A representative of the Centre for the Struggle against Economic Crimes and Corruption has answered an interpellation regarding the legality of delivery of calculation equipment by Moldovan president to the Theoretical High School in the village of Magdacesti, the district of Criuleni. Accordingly to the report, the equipment was delivered in compliance with the regulation concerned, under an order by the Directorate-General of the Moldovan President Apparatus.

The Information and Security Service has assured Deputy Gheorghe Susarenco that it does not intercept telephones of parliamentarians.

Several lawmakers have recommended changing the hour of Ora Guvernului (Government’s Hour), so that to be held before plenary sittings and those invited for hearings to be able to fulfil their tasks at workplace later.

Democratic Party Deputy Valeriu Guma has asked the director of the railway company of Moldova CFM to explain the 200-percent rise of the internal cargo carriage transportation tariff for trains starting April 1.

Statements

On April 4, 2008, members of the Parliament commented on the election of the chief of state three years ago. Valentina Cusnir, Vladimir Filat and Iurie Rosca read statements in this respect.

The faction representing the Democratic Party of Moldova has released a statement signalling urgent necessary measures to improve living standards in Moldova, otherwise the country runs the risk to lose all residents and disappear from the map.

The faction of the Our Moldova Alliance accuses the parliamentary majority of having turned plenary sittings of the Parliament into working sittings of the Party of Communists, ignoring all proposals and objections of the opposition; it noted that the vote of Communist lawmakers is dictated by party discipline not by interest of citizens and country.

The faction representing the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova accuses the opposition of attempting on freedom of the media by seeking the closure of the “Rezonans” programme aired by Moldova 1 and “Povesti cu Masti” programme aired by TV channel NIT.

The faction representing the Christian Democratic People’s Party has brought new accusations against the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, Vladimir Filat, former director of the Privatisation and State Property Management Department, former minister of state.

In his turn, LDPM chairman Vladimir Filat has accused the CDPP and its leader Iurie Rosca of taking actions to destroy the democratic opposition.

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