What happens next is up to the political class and the newly elected MPs, President Igor Dodon said in his speech during the first meeting of the 10th Parliament on Thursday, March 21. He urged the lawmakers to focus their political, geopolitical and social-economic actions on restoring the people’s faith in the future of the Moldova and on stopping the depopulation of the country, IPN reports.
“Today, in Moldova, we have a situation unseen in recent years – the country has a legitimate President and a legitimate Parliament, mandated by the Moldovan people. Thus, our common duty now is to form a legitimate government, to work for the benefit of every citizen. We have a fundamental goal before us: to achieve some qualitative changes in our country. The people expect from us the dialogue and political understanding necessary to change the situation, to reach a compromise and conciliation in the interest of the nation”, said the head of the state.
According to Dodon, one of the priorities must be restoring the people’s trust in state institutions. Everyone must be equal before the law. He also spoke about the need for an economic qualitative leap, which could be achieved with a new economic policy, based on the creation of attractive conditions for investors and the launch of national investment projects.
“Social equity must be the basic goal of the government. In our country there is a great income disparity among different categories of people. It is our duty to carry out complex reforms that will increase the people’s well-being and social protection. The people expect the new Parliament and the new Cabinet to increase pensions and salaries, allowances and other social payments”, explained the President.
Igor Dodon said he will call every parliamentary group at the Presidency to discuss the next steps. He is open to any majority and any government created through negotiations, but will not accept “a majority and a Cabinet created artificially, illegitimately, made of political migrants”.
The first meeting of Parliament was attended by 97 out of 101 MPs. It was presided by the oldest member – the Socialist Eduard Smirnov, who turns 80 in September. He performed the same role during the first meeting of the previous Parliament.