CMC meeting could not be convened

The December 2 meeting of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC), where the councilors where to approve a decision on the loan raised from the EBRD, did not take place as a quorum wasn’t present, Info-Prim Neo reports. Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said the Liberal and Liberal-Democratic factions did not come to the meeting because the Communist councilors said they will vote for the decision concerning the loan only if additional items are included in the agenda, including the draft decision on the withdrawal of the seats of three councilors. According to the mayor, the Liberal and Liberal-Democrat councilors were in their offices in the City Hall and could anytime come to the meeting if the Communist councilors agreed to vote the agenda with only one item. Chairman of the Communist faction Boris Golovin came to the meeting hall and read an official letter addressed to the EBRD administration, which says that the mayor blocks the meetings of the CMC and says the seats of councilor will be withdraw only when the decision on the lending agreement is approved. Golovin also said that the Communist councilors support all the EBRD projects and will unanimously vote for the decision concerning the loan that is intended for repairing six streets in Chisinau. He then left the hall. Even if the draft decision wasn’t approved by the CMC, the lending agreement was signed the same day. A clause was included in the document, which says that the decision on the lending agreement will be approved by the CMC at a later date. Under the lending agreement, the EBRD will provide a loan of €11.7 million that will be repaid within 10 years at an interest rate of 5%. The money will be used to filly repair six streets in central Chisinau.