Activity of the Parliament on May 17–31, 2008

Appointments. Dismissals

Elena Covalenco and Iurie Diaconu have been nominated judges of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Legal acts

Law approving the National Security Concept. It regulates basic aspects of security policy, general values, principles, risks and vulnerabilities; international cooperation as a national security tool, interconnection between interior and foreign policy; national security system and reformation of this system; affirmation of neutrality principle, etc. The document was voted by the faction representing the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova and lawmakers on behalf of the Social Democratic Party.

Law concerning credit story offices. The law introduces the credit story component, grounds, mode of formation, keeping and use of credit stories, regulates the functioning, establishing, dissolution and reorganisation of credit story offices, principles of cooperation between these offices and credit story formation sources, creditors, public and local authorities. It regulates relations between persons providing credits to credit story subjects, accordingly to credit contracts concluded with them on one hand, and story credit subjects on the other hand; credit story offices and credit story formation sources; credit story offices and users of credit stories; credit story offices and credit story subjects; credit story offices and competent public authority.

Laws on ratification of international acts or accession to such documents:

The European Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite;

The Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Passengers and Luggage by Road (CVR);

The Agreement between Moldovan Government and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on pensions for former military personnel, their families and other social protection modalities for them.

Law on completion of the law on statement and control of income and estate of state officials, judges, prosecutors, public functionaries and other high-ranking officials. The law says that financial statements by Moldovan President, members of the Parliament and Government, Chairperson of the Constitutional Court, Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Justice, Prosecutor-General, Chairperson of the Chamber of Auditors, Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, Director of the Information and Security Service, mayors of cities, villages (communes) and heads of district councils will be also published on official websites of these institutions within 30 days after the deadline for submission of financial statements.

Note by ADEPT: Experts have signaled long ago the need of such a simple but efficient action to ensure transparency, and the fact that the parliamentary majority has voted the draft submitted by the opposition is a remarkable progress. At the same time, authorities will be monitored the way they implement this law and they are expected to sanction those who violate it.

Law on modification and completion of the Family Code. The document aims to ensure the education and growing up of children in family; reduce much the number of children from residential institutions; organise the functioning of services in charge with preventing the separation of children from their parents; harmonise the Code to international instruments, etc.

Law on modification and completion of the Law on entrepreneur’s patent. Amendments aim to extend the applicability of the entrepreneur’s patent on retailing in booths, motor vehicles and authorised markets; establish categories of merchandise allowed for retailing in legal places on the basis of patent; stipulate the mandatory social insurance contributions and health insurance premiums; raise the fee for the patent of commercial entrepreneurs; impose unconditional respect for goods trading rules; establish the maximum business figure for patent-based activities at the level of 300,000 lei; these regulations shall enter into force by January 1, 2017.

Note by ADEPT: These amendments come after protests by patent holders and the Government has ignored them at the beginning, but it had to intervene when riots developed.

Law on completion and modification of the Code of Penal Procedure. It modifies Article 401, deleting the right of the plaintiff to declare appeal concerning the criminal side “when the penal case is based on the precursory complaint of the plaintiff.” This regulation does not meet the right to free access to the justice, as the plaintiff does not enjoy an equal legal treatment but in the first phase of the suit and it has a status of participant or it is even deprived of the right to participate in other stages of the suit.

Parliamentary control. Statements

Hearings. Motions

The parliamentary majority did not accept to hear governmental officials regarding an eventual ceasing of sunflower oil imports from Ukraine.

Prime minister has submitted the country initiative on Compact full assistance within U.S. Millennium Challenge Account to the Parliament Permanent Bureau.

The Ministry of Education and Youth (MEY) has reported objections from the European Commission Report on Moldova against racism and intolerance (adopted on December 14, 2007). MEY has created a working group to study passages indicated by European experts and certain criticism against new textbooks are reportedly based on “interpretations by some nongovernmental organisations from Moldova,” not on “other visions in society.”

Questions. Interpellations

Communist Deputies Iurii Eriomin, Sergiu Sococol, Grigore Petrenco and Ala Ursul have asked Prosecutor-General and other law bodies to check actions by Chisinau City Hall and districts of Nisporeni, Criuleni and Telenesti led by democratic coalitions.

Democratic Deputy Marcel Raducan has asked the Ministry of Education and Youth to provide information about sources spent to buy symbols of pioneer organisations, reason of suspension of classes in schools in connection with the Day of Pioneers on May 19 and legality of political involvement of PCRM members in school activities during classes.

National Liberal Deputy Vitalia Pavlicenco has asked the Interior Ministry to report concrete facts why police officers have been accused of corruption without respect for presumption of innocence. In a second interpellation Pavlicenco (PNL) asked minister of information development to provide information about assets owned by Vladimir Voronin and his son in all enterprises in Moldova.

Christian Democratic Deputy Ion Varta has asked the Government to provide information about seismic resistance of new residential blocks and respect for anti-seismic engineering norms to build them.

Deputy Vladimir Filat has asked prime minister to provide information about a governmental decision on donation of 9,500 tons of food wheat to two state-run economic agents. According to Filat, the wheat is worth 30 million lei and it was provided by Romania and Russia as a humanitarian aid, while the economic agents concerned do not have the right to donations.

Statements

The Head of PCRM Eugenia Ostapciuc has released a statement which disapproves the conduct of the parliamentary opposition and accuses the latter of abandoning electoral promises.

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