Activity of the President on April 12–28, 2006

Decrees

The chief of state has recalled Efim Chilari from the post of Moldovan Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and India.

Under decrees published on 14 April, 2006, the Moldovan president has reshuffled functionaries of the presidential apparatus. Vasile Mircos was relieved from the post of chief of the Protocol Service of the President’s Apparatus and Natalia Ipati replaced him.

Sittings. Meetings. Declarations

Concerns with wine exports

The Moldovan president convoked a sitting on 20 April 2006 to examine the situation related to the restriction of Moldovan wines in the Russian Federation. According to the presidential press service, the participants in sitting have established priority actions aimed to normalise the situation and to minimise the losses of domestic wine producers and state budget. They also discussed future measures that will be taken to diversify the sale markets for Moldovan wines and cognacs, their more active promotion on European markets and in China.

CPA reform

Vladimir Voronin convoked a sitting on 26 April, with the participation of prime minister and Government members, and discussed the present stage of the central public administration (CPA) reform. The chief of state said that the efforts to optimise the Government’s structure and to reduce the central public authorities by 70 percent have registered some results: the central executive includes now 15 ministries and 13 national agencies, services and bureaus, compared with 16 ministries and 14 departments in January 2004; the personnel of central apparatuses of CPA bodies have been reduced by 1,603 persons or 39 percent. According to the president, the activities in the framework of the CPA reform:

did not cover enough the institutions subordinated to ministries;
the elaboration and implementation of a single mechanism for circulation of documents within the public administration system, which would also ensure a control on execution of decisions (e-governance concept, approval of a decision on official websites of public administration authorities) shall be one of important stages of the reform;
draft laws on public service, status of public functionaries, CPA, Conduct Code of public functionary shall be urgently finalised.

Dissatisfaction with anti-corruption fight

Vladimir Voronin has told a sitting that the combat and prevention of corruption is unsatisfactory despite the existence of the necessary legal framework, despite the declared political will, drafted strategies and action plans. The chief of state considers that the combat and prevention of corruption did not become a constant concern of every head of state structures and the fight against this phenomenon becomes useless in such a situation. The serious concern of the president is fuelled by passive attitude of ministers, directors of state offices, services and agencies, other central public bodies towards detection and prevention of corruption in their institutions. Voronin was firmly decided to do his best in order to destroy the corruption and to turn the struggle against this phenomenon into an efficient and irreversible process, asking that:

starting 1, June heads of ministries and other governmental structures deliver to the presidency monthly reports on specific measures taken to prevent and combat the corruption, as well as solutions, including proposals on improvement of legislation. If the analysis of these reports show that the developers did not reach an adequate agreement in this problem, necessary sanctions will be handed, while responsible officials of any level may be dismissed;
the Government urgently propose amendments to the law on declaration and control of incomes and property of state dignitaries, judges, prosecutors, public functionaries, and other high-ranking officials. The amendments would establish the obligation to declare both incomes and expenses.

Dissatisfaction with internal trade

Chairing a sitting on the present situation of the internal trade and development prospects of this branch, President Vladimir Voronin raised dissatisfaction with the state of things, indicating the disastrous impact of the lack of a clear policy on functioning of internal trade on national economy. He said that Moldova lacks an organised, modern internal trade system based on principles of market economy and from that reason the national budget fails at least 2 billion lei a year. As a result, the chief of state has proposed the creation of a working group headed by prime minister to work out a short-term and perspective action plan on strategic, tactical and institutional development of internal trade, including the improvement of the existing legislative framework, introduction of a stricter financial, economic and technological control in the field.

It should be noted in this context that the law on internal trade was adopted in 1996 and last time it was modified in 2001. In 2003, the Government adopted a decision (#671 from 09.06.2003) aimed to improve the situation of internal trade. The Trade Department was created in early 2004 as central administrative authority, which promoted the state policy on internal and external trade, protection of consumers’ rights and creation of favourable conditions for promotion of domestic goods on foreign and national markets. The department was dissolved in 2005 and the Ministry of Economy and Trade took over again the related tasks (the directorate for the internal commerce, services and consumer protection). The Government adopted Decision # 264 on 9 March, 2005 concerning actions aimed to improve the situation of commerce, approving an action plan on trade development and establishing tasks for competent central public authorities.

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