The Liberal Party (PL) considers the Republic of Moldova should leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Liberals drafted a bill to this effect and called on the Democratic Party to support it and show the people that the Moldovan government wants indeed the country to become part of the European Union, IPN reports.

The chairman of the PL Mihai Ghimpu said the European Commission expressed its concern about the non-fulfillment of the requirements of the visa free regime that was obtained including with the effort of the Liberal Party. “We demand that the government should fulfill all the commitments related to the liberalization of the visa regime and the Association Agreement and not by adopting laws only as the adoption of a law does not mean reform. Reform is when the law works,” the Liberal leader told a news conference.

According to the secretary general of the PL Ion Apostol, the membership in the CIS brought Moldova only trouble, starting with the Nistru war in which hundreds of people were killed, banning of the studying in Romanian in schools in Transnistria and ending with the institution of a ban on the import of Moldovan products by Russia in 2006 and then in 2013. Instead, after the Association Agreement with the EU was signed, Moldova reoriented its exports from the CIS to the European market and currently Romania is the main market in the EU for Moldovan products.

In another development, Mihai Ghimpu expressed his concern about President Igor Dodon’s interference in the activity of the local public authorities. After some of the districts declared 2018 the Union Year at the local level, Igor Dodon ordered the Security and Intelligence Service to carry out research. The fact that the Liberals’ initiative to name this year the Union Year nationwide was rejected does not mean that the local authorities cannot name it so themselves. “In a democratic state with the rule of law, the presidential administration does not have the right to order the SIS to deal with the situation. We consider this is serious interference. I oppose Dodon’s policy and demand that the state services should not interfere in the internal affairs of the local authorities,” insisted the Liberal leader.

2018 was declared the Year of Stephan the Great and Holy, with President Dodon signing a decree to this effect.