Meeting on Thursday, March 20, the Moldovan Parliament accepted the Government’s resignation by the vote of 53 Communist MPs, with the Opposition abstaining, Info-Prim Neo reports. Chair of the parliamentary commission for appointments and immunity Vladimir Turcan noted while presenting the report on the resignation request that the Prime Minister had the right to resign on his on initiative, according to the Constitution and the Government Law. A resignation on the part of the Prime-Minister leads to the resignation of the whole Government, and until the new Government is sworn in, the resigned executive will only manage public affairs. A number of Opposition parliamentarians expressed their dissatisfaction with the way Vasile Tarlev tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and demanded that he appear before the Parliament for explanations. MP Anatol Taranu stressed that the Premier should have tendered his resignation to the Parliament, the body that appointed him and which he owes responsibility to, and not to the head of state. MP Dumitru Braghis, president of the Social Democratic Party, labeled the unexpected gesture of the premier as an act of defiance of authority and urged the deputies to refrain from accepting his resignation until the premier gives explanations to the Parliament. “This Government has transformed Moldova from one of Europe’s poorest into the poorest country”, declared Braghis. Democrat leader Dumitru Diacov stated he hadn’t approved of Tarlev’s appointment before and wouldn’t accept his resignation today either. Vitalia Pavlicenco, president of the National Liberal Party, demanded that the premier be invited to the Parliament to report on his activities during his seven years in office, for which he has been praised by President Voronin and awarded with the Order of the Republic. MP Gheorghe Susarenco of the Moldova Noastra Alliance Party stated the Premier ignored the Parliament while in office, with the failure to present a yearend report being a relevant example. The parliamentarian also expressed his indignation at the fact that the conferral of Moldova’s highest distinction on Tarlev hadn’t been approved by a parliamentary commission. MP Vladimir Filat also observed that the Government has repeatedly defied the Parliament and expressed his conviction that, beyond the legal prescriptions, it was the premier’s moral obligation to submit his resignation and explain his reasons to the Parliament. Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev unexpectedly announced his resignation yesterday at a Government sitting, attended by President Vladimir Voronin. Tarlev explained his decision by saying he wanted to offer new people the opportunity to achieve new goals prescribed by changing times. The resignation accepted, the President is to designate an interim Prime Minister until the formation of a new Government.