Debates: Is there a stalemate in the Chisinau City Council?

The representatives of the Eurointegration Alliance groups in the Chisinau City Council think that there isn't any stalemate in the Council, as it may appear, and that things actually move slow yet steady, with important proposals being adopted. At the same time, the representative of the opposition Communist group says that the Communist councilors are looking for cooperation, which should occur within the Council itself together with all the groups, rather than secretly in the Mayor's office. The situation in the Council was discussed on Tuesday at a public debate on the theme “The Chisinau Municipal Council: Why Doesn't it Work? Political Culture in the Relationship between Local Office Holders”, organized by Info-Prim Neo. Ion Gabura, the leader of the Liberal group, says the image of a stalemate in the Council is heavily circulated, but the situation is not really so bad. He said that things in the Council move slow yet steady. Gabura admitted that there were certain deadlocks immediately after elections, however the Municipality has been working and this can bee seen in the numerous projects implemented. Ion Gabura stated that his group has tried from the very beginning to find common ground in the Council so as to ensure its efficiency, but this is difficult because every item on the Council's agenda is politicized. To improve the situation, the councilor is urging his Communist colleagues to show a cooperative approach with respect to key projects. Communist councilor Victor Gurau said the current situation recalls the 1994 Council, which, however, was very successful in promoting reforms, and this was due to then Mayor Nicolae Costin, who was able to reconcile the sides. In his opinion, the current deadlock in the Council is due to profound corruption in the City Hall, headed by Dorin Chirtoaca, who “not only supports it, but also promotes it through various projects”. “We are looking for cooperation within the City Council, not in the Mayor's office. We want colleagues in the Council, not puppets manipulated by the Mayor”, declared Gurau. Liberal-Democratic group leader Ghenadie Dumanschi said that, from a functional point of view, things work smoother in the Council than what is depicted in the mass media: the specialized commissions meet regularly and most of their councilor-members attend them. “We said it from the very beginning: we should focus on what unites us rather than on what separates us. While our political coloring differs, we have the city's interests and pressing needs that should unite us”, stated Dumanschi. Oleg Cernei, who represented Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca at the debate, said that while the Council does experience a certain blockage, the City Hall and all its divisions are working intensely, providing public services that include transportation, water and sewer and education services. Despite its problems, the Council also managed to adopt a number of key measures like road rehabilitation and amenities for apartment building yards. Oleg Cernei stated that, while the councilors are generally elected on party tickets, once they receive their mandate they must represent the city's interests. Some politicians can be detrimental to good management, said Cernei. In his opinion, the Communists came to the Council with an agenda full of political issues, yet the Council is a place where “concrete projects” should be proposed. Vasile Costiuc, the president of the Democratia Acasa Party, noted that representativeness is one key European principle, and the municipal councilors should represent the interests of ordinary people. When people elect representatives to the Council, they should take great care not to delegate persons with narrow economic interests. Political pundit Corneliu Ciurea observed that the internal politics is intricate: there is a political dimension on which the opposition is in particular focusing and there is an administrative dimension, which is preferred by the Mayor and the Alliance councilors. At the same time, the expert considers that the notion of political culture gets blurred when two sides confront each other, as they have every right to engage in an argument, but it is important that the discussion among the groups is continued. “The perception is that things in the Municipality, too, are not going very smooth and this can be heard in the street. When there is a party which seeks to reveal some illegalities, it must bring evidence and notify the relevant bodies”. Expert Igor Botan, the director of the Association for Participative Democracy, said the situation in the Council becomes blocked as a reaction: the mayor feels attacked and counterattacks by blocking the Council. The expert also remarked a number of “abnormal things”: the failure to validate three councilor's mandates in more than half a year, the secret meeting of September 13, and the subsequent Mayor's trick pulled on some councilors. “But the Mayor didn't think this could have a boomerang effect against him”. Concerning the Communists' and Socialists' intention to hold a referendum to dismiss the Mayor, the expert thinks this would be useless, because if the city's residents were really discontented with the level of public services, they would have long ago organized themselves and collected signatures. The expert added that actually all the groups in the Council know what to do, and they just have to act. The public debate on the theme “The Chisinau Municipal Council” Why Doesn't it Work? Political Culture in the Relationship between Local Office Holders” is the 10th such event as part of the series “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” held by Info-Prim Neo with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.