Civil servants to be verified by SIS

The civil servants will be verified by the Service of Information and Security (SIS). The Communist MPs endorsed a draft law, in this sense, on Thursday, December 11, in the first reading. The opposition MPs criticized this legislative initiative of the government, describing it as a glaring encroachment of the principle of observing the human rights, Info-Prim Neo reports. Justice deputy minister Nicolae Esanu stated that checking civil servants has the aim to prevent and fight corruption in public administration and prevent people, presenting threats for the interests of the national security, from occupying functions. According to the draft law, the verification will be initiated by competent public authorities. Following the checks, the SIS will present a consultative notice that will be taken into consideration when establishing the person’s suitability for the public function. If the candidate is not compatible with the function, he will not be able to be appointed in that function. As to the holders, such a decision issued by the SIS will result in dismissing that person. With the holder’s agreement, he will be transferred to another post, which does not suppose compulsory checking. The verification will be performed with the written consent of the civil servant. His refusal to be checked will be a reason for not being employed or for being dismissed. After working out the verification statement, the public servant will have to fill in a questionnaire, which includes questions about personal data, including citizenship, data about parents and children, information about his financial situation, penal antecedents, his political party membership, etc. The opposition has criticized the draft law. Moldova Noastra Alliance parliamentarian Alexandru Lipcanu stated that this draft law “is a part of the Communist government’s abusive tactic of coercing the Moldovan citizen’s rights and freedoms.” Lipcanu said that enacting the law will bring to persecutions, similar to those from the 30s, and the questionnaire is “a sample of KGB files”. Leader of Democratic Party (PD) Dumitru Diacov said that, “through this draft, the state proves it has no confidence in its own servants or it tries to implement a system, that would banish some of them.” “This initiative has been covered with dust on the SIS shelves during 6 years. Enforcing it before setting the election day has a single purpose: performing a strict selection of the administrative staff, on the principle of loyalty to the Communist Party,” non-affiliated deputy Vlad Filat stated. Non-affiliated deputy Vitalia Pavlicenco said that promoting this law is an attempt to filter the Romanian citizens and prevent them to get to power. In reply, Communist deputy Vadim Misin stated that he had the feeling that the opposition deputies had imagined that the law was applied upon them. “We have attentively discussed this law and we are sure that it absolutely has no anti-constitutional or anti-humanitarian nature.” Misin explained that the law is good in itself and in the future the SIS mechanisms will be meaningful. According to him, there is a similar law in the United States. The draft law on checking the holders and nominees for a post is to be considered by the Parliament in final reading.