Bashkana Yevgenia Guțul said that since the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) led by Maia Sandu came to power in the country, considerable pressure has been exerted on ATU Gagauzia. During the year since her team won the elections in the region, the pressure has been stepped up further.

“In just one year we have seen how the ruling party tried to annul the results of the elections for Bashkan. When they understood that they could not do it, Sandu has refused to sign the decree on my appointment as a member of the Cabinet,” Yevgenia Guțul told a press conference hosted by IPN.

The governor noted that the Cabinet approved a law by which it tried to “steal” 200 million lei from Gagauzia’s budget. But this attempt failed because these legal provisions were annulled by the Constitutional Court.

“At the same time, the ruling party is carrying out the so-called judicial reform within which the particularities of our autonomous region are fully ignored. They want to deprive us of our own court of appeals (after the reorganization there will be only the South Court of Appeals based in Cahul and the secondary headquarters in Comrat, e.n.) and to subdue the Court of Vulcanesti to Cahul, not to Comrat,” said Yevgenia Guțul.

According to her, the latest unusual case, which demonstrates the PAS’s attitude towards Gagauzia, took place at the end of last week. “Specifically, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu held in the Government Building the founding meeting of the Regional Development Council of ATU Gagauzia, to which only a few “elected” mayors from ATU Gagauzia were allowed, whom the PAS considered welcome. At Spînu’s direct instruction, they didn’t allow me to attend the meeting. You witnessed this show. Initially, they allowed me to enter the building, but didn’t allow me to attend the meeting,” stated Yevgenia Guțul.

In her opinion, this is an absurd situation. As the head of ATU Gagauzia, she is entitled to take part in the Regional Development Council. The Bashkana also said that in the near future, she will inform the development partners about the attempts to limit rights in the region.

Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider themselves targeted in the news made from the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.