Decrees
Vladimir Voronin has signed a decree on appointment of Petru Railean, former chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), as judge of the Economic Court of the Republic of Moldova. Before being appointed as CEC chairman, Railean had run the Economic Court, but this post remains vacant until the Superior Council of Magistrates proposes a candidate to the Moldovan president.
Sittings. Statements
- The Moldovan president has expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the OSCE summit in Ljubljana, which failed to pass a decision on the Transnistrian problem despite of the insistence of the Moldovan diplomacy. The Russian Federation disagreed with formulations of the draft declaration, which was obliging it to pull out illegal armed forces from the Republic of Moldova and Georgia.
- Vladimir Voronin said while on a working visit to the Dubasari district that Moldova could review the principles of participation in the Transnistrian settlement negotiations, if no agreement on the problem of farmers from the Dubasari district, who do not have access to their own land controlled by separatists, is reached and it would start direct negotiations with the Russian Federation. Voronin asked the reintegration minister to seek the inclusion of this issue in the agenda of the forthcoming round of Transnistrian settlement negotiations, saying that direct negotiations with the Russian Federation will be needed in case of refusal because the separatist leaders “are marionettes of some groups of interests from the Russian Federation.” The chief of state reiterated the previous statements that all the influence exerted through higher gas, electricity prices, stop of imports of agricultural production will not make the Moldovan authorities cede in the Transnistrian settlement process. In order to contribute to settlement of economic problems of localities in the Dubasari district, Vladimir Voronin recommended the drafting of proposals “on institution of an international free economic zone.” It should be noted in the context that representatives of Russian authorities had earlier stated to mass media that they would not respond to tries of Moldovan authorities to tackle the problem of dismissal of the acting Transnistrian leaders directly with Russia.
- The Moldovan president told the national council for the economic development and poverty reduction that the poverty rate has declined four-fold in the past four years. At the same time, he announced that 75 percent of population earns less than needed for minimal consumption. Under these conditions, a consistent implementation of the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (EGPRSP) is needed, as well as more attention to accomplishment of pilot projects in three districts of the republic regarding granting of social assistance in dependence of the level of real revenues of citizens.