The Moldovan Church announced it was suspending deacon Ghenadie Valuţa from his clerical duties at the St. Dumitru Church in Anenii Noi. At the same time, the deacon will not be able to officiate any religious services until he stands ecclesiastical trial and a final decision is pronounced by the Metropolitan Court. The Metropolitan Division expressed its regret at such an action and said that it is an unpleasant situation that is improper for a church official. “A cleric should not deal with such things,” this said. The case was condemned by animal rights defenders. By July 23, over 25,000 persons had signed an online petition whereby they demand that the deacon should be tried and banned from officiating.
The proposed cancellation of the tax-exempt meal vouchers has been met with criticism by the National Confederation of Labor Unions, which condemns the Government’s failure to have the measure consulted. The Confederation said it is deeply upset by the fact that an issue of such importance for 50,000 employees has not been consulted with the labor unions, as required by the social partnership legislation. It is demanding that the National Commission on Collective Bargaining assembles to discuss the issue. The Ministry of Finance is requested to present evidence to demonstrate how meal vouchers are detrimental to the Moldovan economy and show the IMF arguments. Employers’ organizations are also asked to take a stand.
Meal vouchers will not be cancelled altogether, but will be subject to standard taxation, including social and health insurance contributions and income tax. The Ministry of Finance estimates there are about 30,000 employees at present who receive meal vouchers from about 620 employers. “By a simple conversion of salary cards into meal vouchers, extremely high risks exist that by 2020 an amount of 1 billion lei will be reached of income not taxed for social and mandatory insurance,” theorizes the Ministry, adding that this could undermine the sustainability of the Social Security Budget.
The National Association of Restaurants and Recreational Places of the Republic of Moldova (MĂR) is against the return to the 20% VAT from the current VAT rate of 10% for the hospitality sector.
The economist Viorel Gîrbu believes that the intention to cancel personal exemptions for annual incomes over 360,000 lei, as announced on Tuesday by the Ministry of Finance, is a bad idea that will create inequity. He noted that it is very difficult to estimate the impact of the measure on the State Budget, and it’s not clear how the Minister of Finance arrived at the 360,000 lei threshold. Speaking about other proposed fiscal measures, including the doubling of the tax on the hospitality industry, from 10% to 20%, the expert says these are some “diffident changes made in a hurry” based on requirements from the International Monetary Fund.
The Republic of Moldova encounters problems in implementing projects financed with foreign funds. According to the 2018 budget fulfilment report, of the 3.3 billion lei non-utilized allocations, 2.7 billion lei was such funding, Minister of Finance Natalia Gavrilița stated in a meeting of the Parliament’s commission on economy, budget and finance. “It is a worrisome tendency as the projects financed with foreign funds are implemented at a very low pace. This is one of the most important problems we have to solve. We must increase the level of absorbing the accessible funds,” stated the minister.
The Parliament’s commission on national security, defense and public order was furnished with information about serious abuses committed at the Mărculești International Airport. The commission’s chairman Kiril Moțpan said the abuses refer to illegal transactions with armament, artificial creation of debts, rigged tender contest and misappropriations of tens of millions of lei. the Mărculești Airport since 2008 has been a free economic zone whose residents enjoy exemptions from VAT, excises and customs duties and other tax concessions. Until August 2017, the airport was managed by the Ministry of Defense and was then transferred to the Ministry of Economy without comprehensive inventorying. “We don’t know if the receipt documents were transmitted to the Government. In July 2018, the airport was transferred under the management of the Public Property Agency, again without receipt documents. The state institutions didn’t react somehow,” stated the MP.
The PDM remained without a leader after Vladimir Plahotniuc vacated this post following the PDM’s switchover to the opposition in the middle of June. Later, in a meeting of the party’s Political Council, all the vice presidents and the secretary general were dismissed. After the extraordinary congress of the Democratic Party that was scheduled for September 7, the PDM will be a party without Vladimir Plahotniuc. It will have a new leadership, a more concrete ideology and a development and behavioral program, stated the party’s president of honor Dumitru Diacov. The politician didn’t yet say it clearly if the former leader of the PDM will leave the party and the seat of MP. Meanwhile, a group of mayors from the district of Dondușeni in northern Moldova announced they were leaving the Democratic Party lamenting its “degradation before the people.” The mayors say they are open to discuss with any political force, the Government, Parliament and other institutions for any future cooperation.
The bank fraud inquiry commission’s report could be presented at the first autumn sitting of the legislative body, said the commission’s chairman Alexandru Slusari. “I hope that even if the MPs will go on vacation and we have a difficult period, the report will be completed by September 1. According to the Parliament decision, we must provide it by September 10, but given that parliamentary sittings will not be held in the period, if nothing extraordinary happens we will most probably present the report in the first autumn session of Parliament,” he stated.
Details on IPN!
