CMC will examine alternatives for reorganisation of local audiovisual stations

The Municipal Council of Chisinau (CMC) will examine other choices for the reorganisation of the municipal stations “Antena C” and “Euro TV Chisinau”. Members of the staff and municipal councillors presented on Friday, December 8 alternative projects to the CMC decision, dated November 30, providing for the reorganisation of the companies via alienation. The meeting between the staff-members, municipal councillors and the City Hall’s leadership has been initiated by the personnel of the companies who oppose the decision on reorganisation via liquidation. Although it was to begin at 11.00, the meeting started 45 de minutes later. During this time the interim mayor Vasile Ursu, the institutions’ managers, Communist and Christian democrat councillors (who had voted in favour of the respective decision) have been discussing in the mayor’s office. Only after the intervention of the councillor Oleg Cernei, the meeting with the employees of the stations began. Within its frameworks, Ursu stated that, in his opinion, these stations should continue their activity in the interest of the capital’s inhabitants, but it is up to CMC to decide, although he suggested another project. He solicited that parties bring constructive proposals, asserting that if they don’t their discussions would be to little avail. The managers of the two institutions, Arcadie Gherasim (“Euro TV”) and Vasile State (“Antena C”) stated that they presented alternative proposal in the CMC session of November 30, but they haven’t even been discussed. They pleaded for transforming the institutions into Limited Liability Companies, the founders of which would be the members of the staffs. State added that a referendum should be organised, so that the capital’s population decides whether it wishes or not to transmit the equipment to the new enterprises. On the other hand, the independent councillor Mihai Roscovan stated that a sustainable solution would be to create NGOs on the basis of the actual institutions. The legislation allows this, and local authorities could cooperate with these NGOs, given the real possibility of establishing a steady public-private partnership. According to councillor Oleg Cernei, an extraordinary session of CMC is to be summoned on Thursday December 14. For this session, the initiators propose for discussion a new decision draft, providing the annulment of the decision of November 30. They will solicit a legal interpellation to the Parliament concerning the compatibility of some provisions of the Audiovisual Code and the Law on local public administration. Also a reorganisation commission is to be created which would consult the personnel of the stations, would organise a public inquiry on defining the statuses of the 2 institutions and would present CMC a new reorganisation proposal, which would avoid the liquidation of the institutions. Councillors from the communists and Christian democrat factions have not participated in the meeting. Svetlana Bistritkaia, the secretary of the communist faction, entered the hall for several minutes, leaving it later, after she checked the watch on her hand.