Former Prime Minister Ion Chicu harshly criticizes the Party of Socialists’ initiative to table again the draft law to abrogate the billion law that was earlier declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. He also considers unacceptable Igor Dodon’s initiative to borrow money from the National Bank of Moldova so as to help the citizens and the business community during the state of emergency. Chicu described these intentions as populist, noting they can spoil the country’s relations with the foreign financial partners and can affect Moldova’s image abroad, IPN reports.
Even if the Constitutional Court ruled that the abrogation of the billion law that was adopted at the end of the previous session in the absence of the Government’s appraisal was unconstitutional, the PSRM announced it will propose a similar bill. Ex-Premier Ion Chicu said the PSRM’s initiative to remove the burden of repaying the stolen US$ 1 billion from the people looks like cheap populism.
“The politicians are permanently in an election campaign and populism is not abandoned the next day after elections. The interest rate of 5% paid by the Government is not justified and can be reduced. I didn’t see the Socialists’ bill to say that it is good or bad, but if the same approach is followed for clearing a debt, it cannot be accepted. It will lead to the collapse of the state,” Ion Chicu stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
Chicu also criticized Igor Dodon’s intention to borrow at least 10 billion lei from the National Bank of Moldova so as to help the citizens and businesses cope with the restrictions imposed by the state of emergency.
“The practice of borrowing money from a central bank is past history. This means going back 20 years. It is a vicious, unacceptable practice that affects the Republic of Moldova’s image at foreign level. This would affect our relations with the international financial institutions. Such an approach cannot be justified in any circumstances,” stated Ion Chicu.
The ex-Premier described the PSRM’s initiative by which the pension indexation coefficient was increased also as an attempt to gain political advantages.
“The previous days, I saw another unacceptable precedent, when Parliament voted to rectify the budget without the Government’s appraisal, allocating 600 million lei for the indexation of pensions. This is evident populism even if I understand the tendency to offer the pensioners more. I think more such initiatives will follow,” stated Ion Chicu.
Ion Chicu served as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova in November 2019 – December 2020. He resigned arguing the move is aimed at triggering snap parliamentary elections.
