Sorin Stati, former director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Moldova MoldATSA, said amber is smuggled through the Republic of Moldova. According to him, 2,000 tonnes of this precious stone is weekly transported from Ukraine to Moldova and later to Hong Kong. The scheme is implemented in cooperation with the police and the managers of the Chisinau International Airport and the Customs Service are aware of this. “All the smuggling schemes are known,” he stated, noting there are also schemes to smuggle cigarettes, alcohol and other goods that are protected by representatives of the former government and high-ranking police officials.
Conditions for the dissolution of Parliament clearly did not exist in Moldova on June 7 and 8, and Maia Sandu’s investiture on June 8 met the legal deadline, according to an Opinion published today in abridged form by the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s body of experts on constitutional law.
“It’s the first time ever that the Venice Commission has clearly pointed out that a Constitutional Court has violated the Constitution by incorrectly calculating the three-month period,” Prime Minister Maia Sandu commented on Facebook. According to her, the CC judges must resign without delay to allow “professional and independent” successors to restore the reputation of this institution. “As long as this Government exists, the Venice Commission decisions will be binding and will be respected,” said Sandu.
Former member of the Superior Council of Magistracy Tatiana Răducanu, ex-judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, said she was not surprised by the resignation tendered by Mihai Poalelung from the post of Constitutional Court president, but considers that only the resignation is not sufficient.c“The immunity should be lifted and criminal proceedings should be brought over abuse of power,” the former judge noted in a program on TV8 channel. She noted this should be done in relation to all the CC members as separate opinions weren’t stated. “We have many international reports from the Council of Europe, the European Commission, European institutions, which say that our judicial system is not independent.”
The recent adoption of amendments to Article 20 of the Electoral Code has been met with concern by the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections. The Coalition, which brings together 37 NGOs, issued a statement criticizing the adoption of key electoral legislation in a manner that does not respect the principles of decisional transparency.
In a meeting of Maia Sandu and representatives of local public authorities on June 21, the Prime Minister said a series of changes will be instituted as regards the functioning of the local public administration. The allocations will be disbursed depending on the set priorities, according to the cost-benefit criteria, within the available resources. There will be ensured direct financing from the foreign partners to the local public authorities so as to reduce dependence on the central budget. Sergiu Litvinenko, chairman of the Parliament’s commission on appointments and immunities, presented several legislative proposals concerning the LPAs. The first of these initiatives provides that the local elections should be held the same day, more exactly on the third Sunday of October, once in four years. Other proposals concern the restoration of the rights of local councils’ secretaries to make notarial documents and the utilization of the money collected as income taxes paid by private individuals at the local level.
Moldova’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicolae Popescu has asked the United States government to provide a new assistance program for Moldova through the foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). It has been agreed that common efforts will be made to unblock the situation and reduce the level of corruption in Moldova, which will unlock further foreign assistance. “Absolutely everyone I met in the United States assured me of the willingness to support Moldova in this new stage of its history,” stated Popescu. In another development, he said Moldova’s Embassy in Israel will not be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and spoke about the lot provided to the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau.
Approximately 30 businesses will be started and developed through the agency of the Program to Attract Remittances to the Economy (PARE 1+1). According to a press release of the Organization for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Sector Development, the entrepreneurial activity of companies will generate investments of about 17 million lei in the economy and will ensure the creation of almost 70 jobs. The PARE 1+1 program works based on the “1+1” formula under which 1 leu invested from remittances is supplemented with 1 leu in the form of grant.
In a news conference at IPN, president of the Association of Moldovan Businesspeople Everyehwre Alexei Repede said that businesses in Moldova can be developed in agriculture and the agrifood industry. The entrepreneurs can also invest in agritourism, textile industry, IT and automotive industry. The investment risks in Moldova are related mainly to the inefficient legal framework and the difficult procedures for exporting agrifood products, distribution of electricity through networks and, in general, the under-regulated framework in a number of sectors. Alexei Repede spoke about the distrust in the financial-banking sector, alarming rise in the number of liquidated enterprises, lack of investment guarantees and corruption.
Acting mayor of Chisinau Ruslan Codreanu fired the whole administration of the municipal enterprise “Central Marek” only two months after this was appointed. The decision was taken after sellers complained that exorbitant taxes for working on the territory of the market continue to be levied there. Ruslan Codreanu told a news conference that he transmitted the complaints to the anticorruption officers and the Ministry of the Interior.
Details on IPN!
