Antidiscrimination Law diverted attention from more important subjects, experts

Many Moldovan politicians used the Antidiscrimination Law as an excuse in order to distract attention from more important subjects. The polls show a rather high rate of social intolerance of the homosexuals, but the politicians chose to massively speculate on this theme, consider foreign policy experts, Info-Prim Neo reports. Cristian Ghinea, the head of the Romanian Center for European Policies, told a news conference that the politicians tried to deviate from the serious aspects of the Action Plan on Visa Liberalization with the EU that is to be implemented by Moldova. “A series of anti-gay statements were made with the aim of diverting attention from the essential part of these matters that indeed affect people’s lives, like the strengthening of the human trafficking combating bodies, the reformation of the Ministry of the Interior and of the Border Guard Service. These are really important issues, but the politicians lose time making statements as to who is more anti-gay,” he said. He also said that the opposition found a reason to attack the Government, forgetting that the first antidiscrimination bill was put forward by a Communist government in 2006, within the ordinary political dialogue with the EU that wasn’t related to visas. Victor Chirila, the executive director of the Foreign Policy Association, said that it is the lack of political will and of sufficient coordination between the main state institutions that hinders the implementation of the Action Plan, not the inadequate financial resources. “The communication between the Government and Parliament is insufficient. The Antidiscrimination Law is the most relevant example in this respect. Unity is needed,” he stated. The expert stressed that the lack of coordination within the ruling alliance diminished the power of conviction in relation to the new law. “There is no understanding and it’s not clear if the alliance partners will back the compromise bill. We’ll see,” said Victor Chirila. The draft Antidiscrimination Law aroused the dissatisfaction of the Church and some representatives of the political class. Last year, the bill was sent to Parliament, but was withdrawn following protests. The Government refined the old bill and named the new one the Law on the Equality of Chances.