Failure to appoint CNI chair can affect visa liberalization talks, CreDO

The second stage of negotiations on visa liberalization with the EU will be affected by the Parliament’s failure to appoint a chairperson to the National Integrity Commission (CNI); if Parliament doesn’t do it at today’s meeting, which is the last one in this session, then the CNI will be inactive till the end of the year. The statement was made by Sergiu Ostaf, head of the Resource Center for Moldovan NGOs for Human Rights (CReDO). Sergiu Ostaf says that it would be a shame if Moldova’s autumn report to the EU will mention that the CNI is still inactive. “If the MPs delay the appointment of the Commission chairperson till the next session, which is scheduled for early September, the CNI will not function at all until a headquarters is selected and the 27 employees appointed.”, said Sergiu Ostaf at a press conference. The CReDO director mentioned that in this case the CNI will not have an activity report until the second half of next year. Its activity, says Ostaf, is very important, since the Commission is the second most important instrument in combating corruption in Moldova, after the National Anti-Corruption Center, which has also not been organized yet. Sergiu Ostaf added that, according to the information available to him, most of the Parliamentary fractions support the candidacy of Cristina Cojocaru, a representative of the civil society, for the position of CNI director. “I talked to several representatives of the Party of Liberals, but I didn’t receive any clear answer regarding this fraction’s position on the matter, but I hope I’m being misinformed and nobody has anything against Cristina Cojocaru”, said the CReDO director. Around 50 NGOs signed a petition asking political leaders to hurry the election of the CNI board, so that it may start its activity. Representatives of these organizations claim that Cristina Cojocaru will handle the position well, since she participated in several activities, as both national and international expert, which dealt with anticorruption policy elaboration. Additionally, she participated in the analysis and creation of reports on the situation in this field, and helped perfect the legislative, normative, and institutional framework for wealth, income and interest statements of the State servicemen. On June 22, the Parliament decided upon the nominal members of the CNI: Vera Lupu proposed by PLDM, Ion Casian, from the PL, Leonid Morari, from the PDM, Dumitru Prijmireanu – representative of the PCRM, and Cristina Cojocaru, who represents civil society. The five members are equal in rights. The commission task is to inspect the wealth and conflicts of interest of Government employees, judges, prosecutors, public employees and other persons in positions of authority. The members of the Commission are appointed by Parliament for a 5-year term.