IPN News Agency, in cooperation with Radio Moldova, held an ordinary round of public debates that centered on the work of the current legislative body that is completing its mandate this week.

Elucidating the “Place of Parliament of 20th legislature in life of society and in history of Moldovan parliamentarianism”, the standing expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan enumerated the key moments in the development of parliamentarianism in our country, many of which were critical.

Vice director of the Institute of Legal, Political and Sociological Research Victor Juc stated the activity of the Parliament of the 20th legislature should be analyzed according to a number of coordinates. Lawmaking is the first of these coordinates and this was practically the same as in other legislatures. The current Parliament started by being unable to form a majority and, implicitly, a government coalition. This way, for the first time in Moldova, a minority coalition was formalized and this was abnormal.

Political analyst Anatol Țăranu, historian, a member of Moldova’s first Parliament, said party switching was the distinctive feature of the current Parliament. What happened to the parliamentary groups in the current legislature was something without a precedent. Moldovan society is profoundly paternalist. For such a society, for such a type of culture, a presidential republic where there is a “father” is more suitable as the people better understand such a system of government. As to the quality of lawmaking, the analyst said the laws are agreed not as a result of profound parliamentary debates by applying expertise, but rather as a result of agreements reached behind the curtain.

“From my viewpoint, the very difficult international context is another moment of the context in which the current Parliament worked, either we like it or not. I refer here to the hybrid war as the Republic of Moldova was a party to this hybrid war. Why do I say this? Because governments that didn’t resist much followed. We saw that the crisis caused by the theft of the US$ 1 billion led to the change of opinions in society. The pro-European camp lost ground and didn’t represent a majority as the happenings were associated with the ruling parties that declared themselves pro-European. Surely, the opposition exerted great pressure for organizing early elections. The early elections would have massively brought the pro-Russian parties to Parliament,” stated politologist Alexandru Solcan.

Public policy expert Ștefan Gligor said that for the first time in the history of the Republic of Moldova, the current Parliament betrayed the concept of sovereignty and these people didn’t honor the obligations they assumed before the people in the election campaign. The Parliament’s activity was redirected to a very narrow group of people who set a series of tasks for the volatile parliamentary majority that lacks any credibility, in an ultimatum-like way.

The expert said Moldova’s Parliament is now not really a Parliament. “The current Parliament would have been an institution if it had respected Moldova’s legislation and done legislative work in the people’s interests.”

In another meeting, alongside a delegation of the European Parliament, Prime Minister Pavel Filip said the Government remains focused on the implementation of reforms and fulfilment of the European agenda. “We do not see another path for the Republic of Moldova. The European Union is our only option. We have no other path because we belong to the European area,” stated Pavel Filip. Impassible to the progress made in the economy and the social sphere noted by the Premier, the European officials stressed the necessity of making additional efforts to reform the justice sector, fight corruption and investigate the banking fraud.

The future bloc ACUM, created by the Party “Action and Solidarity” (PAS), the Political Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” (PPPDA) and members of civil society, undertakes to make sure the average salary is raised to at least 11,000 lei a month by 2023 and the incomes of all the pensioners to above the minimum subsistence level. PAS president Maia Sandu noted the average salaries can be doubled during a mandate if the resources are used efficiently and if the money is reallocated for raising salaries and for public investment. “To attract investment, we will fight corruption, will guarantee the rule of law and will ensure the efficiency of public investment,” said the politician.

The Euro-Unionist Convention of the Republic of Moldova, which consists of members of Moldova’s first Parliament, historians, professors, political parties, political associations and movements, will run in the parliamentary elections of February 24 in the form of an electoral bloc. The founders of the Convention said it is a project to represent the Romanian national identity in the future Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.

In connection with the events in Ukraine, Minister of the Interior Alexandru Jizdan said the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defense, the Security and Intelligence Service and other decision makers are attentively monitoring the developments in the neighboring country. “We inform ourselves not only from external sources, but also through social networking sites. We are permanently in touch with those who can explain...” Yes, it is very important to know what goals are pursued by those who place information.

In the hope that this worrisome episode will not have serious consequences for regional security, presidential adviser Maxim Lebedinski in a posting on Facebook wrote, in the name of the Presidential Office probably, that the institution analyzes very attentively the situation on the border between Moldova and Ukraine, on the Transnistrian segment, so as to exclude and prevent any provocation.

Drivers can see the situation on the roads in real time on the State Road Administration’s website www.asd.md, Minister Kiril Gaburici noted.

As it is easier to navigate through the Internet than to maintain a real network of roads, information could be also obtained through a mobile application. As regards the vehicles for cleaning roads in winter, the minister said those that are old will be renewed.

The Government approved the nonworking days in 2019. There will be five nonworking days on Easter, from April 27 until May 1 inclusive. Another two mini-vacations, together with the weekend days, will be of four days.

Details on IPN!