Intenser cooperation with civil society and better conditions for civil society to develop are among the main expectations that civil society organizations have of the new government. These have been included in an appeal published today.

“The signatory civil society organizations are expressing their satisfaction that the incertitude related to the legitimacy of the Government in Moldova has come to an end and that the transfer of power has taken place without any violence,” reads the appeal. The signatory CSOs note the new government’s commitments to strengthen democracy, reform the justice sector, and fight corruption are encouraging.

“In recent years, democracy in Moldova has been on the decline. This has been fully felt by civil society. The former government considerably reduced the participation of genuine civil society in decision-making, tried to create a parallel civil society, sabotaged our efforts, harassed inconvenient NGOs and even tried to limit the foreign financing of NGOs.”

The organizations hope that the new parliamentary majority and the new Government will create conditions for civil society to develop and will help it exercise its role in society. To make this happen, the authorities are asked to ensure the effective implementation of the 2018-2020 Civil Society Development Strategy, increase the transparency of decision-making, and engage CSOs in drafting key policies.

The government is also asked to exclude the faulty practice of adopting and amending legislation without prior public consultations with all stakeholders; adopt in final reading the Bill on Non-Commercial Organizations in the current version; and improve the 2% mechanism so as to remove unreasonable technical barriers and encourage taxpayers to support the non-governmental sector.

The signatory organizations also want a mechanism of government funding for NGOs that is based on transparency and equal conditions; an elaborated legal framework on social entrepreneurship and procurement of social services; and clarified procedures for government procurement of services provided by NGOs.

The signatory organizations include Amnesty International Moldova, the Independent Press Association, Promo-LEX, BPW Moldova, BIOS, Eco-Răzeni, Eco-Tiras, the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance, etc.