AMN opposes 'election-tuned' budget

The draft 2009 Budget Law is conceived in an electoral tone to help the Communists Party through the upcoming election campaign, the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) Party asserts. According to MP Valeriu Cosarciuc of AMN, the money is not apportioned according to the real needs of the country, while a part of it is allocated to certain fields in order to be later repurposed to sustain the election campaign of the ruling party, Info-Prim Neo reports. Cosarciuc has told a news conference on Wednesday the bill affords the Government's Reserve Fund a triple amount compared to this year. “The Government's Reserve Fund is used to spread gifts in villages, as if they are doing it from their own pockets”, the deputy fumed. He also criticized the allocation of 156 million lei to the Reserve Fund for regional development purposes, yet “nothing has been done in this sector in 2008”. In addition, AMN believes that another instrument employed in the campaign of the ruling party will be the national public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova Company, whose budget for 2009 will be augmented by 80 percent if the bill passes. The members of the Alliance added that the gradual salary raise promised to teachers starting from January 2009 would be insignificant and suggested that the salaries “should be raised considerably”, to around 2,500 lei for a teacher with university degree. The members of the party are also dissatisfied with the fact that “the economy has been stagnant in recent years”. MP Ion Gutu, who is also a member of the parliamentary commission for economic policy and finance, says that despite an increase in fuel excises and despite the fact that the number of cars entering the country has risen, the government incomes remain constant. “This means that a certain amount of gas and petrodiesel is being smuggled into the country, and the government accepts this”, the deputy said. The draft 2009 Budget Law, described by PM Zinaida Greceanyi as an optimal balance between expenses in the social sector and investment, provides for incomes of 17.734 billion lei and expenses of 18.308 billion lei. The deficit of 573 million lei is supposed to be compensated with privatization proceeds and foreign financing, which will be channeled to investment.