The bill concerning the money intended for the studies of diplomats’ children will be put on hold. Minister of Foreign Affairs Mihai Popșoi said that the draft law on the diplomatic service, which envisioned the offering of an allowance of €500 for the children of diplomats, will be suspended. The official noted that due to the virulent reaction of society, the scenario of removing the project from the Parliament’s agenda is being examined and other solutions will be later looked for to help Moldovan ambassadors, IPN reports.
According to the draft law that was signed by a number of PAS MPs and was given a first reading by Parliament, the children of diplomats were to receive a study allowance of €700. Subsequently, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the amount of €500 was agreed with the Ministry of Finance for the second reading. Now, the official noted that the authorities will put the bill on hold.
“We have a reality that we are aware of and, in the future, we must look for other solutions that do not arouse such a virulent reaction. In the initial bill, indeed, there was a higher amount. We needed time to reach a compromise with the Ministry of Finance and that compromise was reached at the Cabinet’s meeting. The amounts were reduced and the age was reduced. For the second reading, the draft law was to be adjusted to the Cabinet’s opinion, but given this extremely virulent reaction, we will have to look for other solutions, perhaps different from those that were reflected in the bill. At the moment, the bill will be suspended or removed from the agenda to see what other solutions we can identify to solve this problem,” Mihai Popșoi stated in the program “Resumé with Ileana Pîrgaru” on RliveTV.
The minister said that the authorities do not overlook the reaction of society to the troublesome bill and, for this reason, the document will be rethought.
“Unfortunately, we see a virulent reaction and, somehow, it is understandable in a state like the Republic of Moldova, in a state where citizens’ incomes are quite low. It’s just that our citizens don’t understand or those who criticized pretend not to understand that our diplomats don’t go on trips to the countries of residence, but go to work and defend the interests of our citizens there. Given the virulent reaction of society, as we are a democratic state and we listen to the reaction of the citizens, somewhere we share this dissatisfaction and we will have to rethink the approach. We will have to look for other solutions and avoid antagonizing society,” said Mihai Popșoi.
The amendments to the law on diplomatic service were adopted in the first reading during the Parliament’s plenary session of July 18. The draft law was passed with the vote of 58 MPs.
