Members of the National Platform of Moldova of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, which includes about 20 NGOs, are deeply concerned about the incoherence of decision makes in doing the justice sector reform and fighting corruption. In a statement signed by members of the Platform, these ask the Government and Parliament to adopt a number of laws, including the Law on the Prosecution Service, and recommend the prosecutor general and the director of the National Anticorruption Center to resign because they didn’t take the necessary measures in the case of the bank thefts, IPN reports.

The NGOs say on October 8 this year, the Head of Parliament created a working group for reforming the anticorruption system, setting the November 30 deadline for presenting legislative proposals for amending the existent legislation on anticorruption. So far, the group had only general discussions and discussed no bill even if many of its members asked that a number of draft laws should be examined.

The civil society organizations warn that the law of October 22, by which the National Anticorruption Center was transferred back under the administration of Parliament, was adopted in two readings on one day, without holding public debates. Also, the Ministry of Justice continues to promote the initiatives put forward by the Center for Reform in the Judicial System, though these were criticized by representatives of civil society.

The EU’s peer review mission of Moldovan rule of law institutions started work in December. According to the Platform members, if these assessments count at least slightly for the decision makers of Moldova, the latter should show maximum diligence in providing the foreign experts with all the relevant information and should refrain from promoting bills that significantly modify the current system and that weren’t subject to public debates.

The signatories reiterate the demands put forward earlier by civil society to the Government and Parliament. They ask to swiftly adopt the Law on the Prosecution Service and the related legislation, in the version proposed by the working group that drafted these, and the bills on the National Integrity Commission and the declaration of personal interests and property, to suspend the other anticorruption initiatives until the European Union and/or the Council of Europe pronounce on them and to ensure the implementation of the legislation on transparency in decision-making.

Among the signatories are the Association of Women for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, the Association for Participatory Democracy, the Association of Independent Press, Promo-LEX, the Legal Resources Center of Moldova and East Europe Foundation.