“What happened in Parliament today is outrageous as they didn’t have the courage to at least present this bill according to rules so that the time allotted for submitting a no-confidence motion could start,” the leader of the Pro Moldova parliamentary group Andrian Candu stated after the Parliament sitting could not be held because the quorum was not present. According to the MP, the bill for which the Government assumed responsibility is not anti-crisis and is not what the citizens and businesses expected from the government, IPN reports.

“We consider that what happened now, this boycotting by the parliamentary majority and the Government, is actually disrespect for the citizens and all those who are now affected by the pandemic crisis. The bill that was approved yesterday by the Government by assumption of responsibility stipulates only one anti-crisis measure – the refunding by the state of the costs associated with the payment of salaries and only an insignificant amount in social assistance for technological unemployment. The other 90% of the bill promote duty-free schemes, sale of cigarettes, elements related to quarries and taxes for the subsoil and natural resources and many others,” Andrian Candu told a news conference.

MP Sergiu Sîrbu said the procedure wasn’t respected, including as regards the presentation of the bill to the parliamentary majority. “If the procedure is respected, in 72 hours, if a no-confidence motion is not presented, the bill is considered adopted and is signed and submitted to Moldova’s President for promulgation. It is published in the Official Gazette and then becomes law,” he explained.

The April 2 sitting of Parliament, where the Government was to present the bill for which it assumed responsibility, didn’t have a quorum. The Socialist and Democratic MPs didn’t appear at the sitting. After the Parliament’s Secretariat announced that only 39 MPs were present, Speaker Zinaida Grechanyi said the sitting cannot be opened because a quorum is not present.