Leaders of parliamentary factions set out objectives for present session

The leaders of the parliamentary groups delivered speeches on October 4 at the opening of the autumn-winter session and set out the objectives for the present session, expressing their opinion about the social and political processes in Moldova. Stefan Secareanu, vice chairman of the faction of the Christian-Democratic People’s Party, said that the most serious problem of the Parliament is the lack of credibility in front of the ordinary people and at foreign level. The state loses cases in the ECHR and nobody bears responsibility for this, while the Parliament does not carry out constitutional control on the way in which the laws are implemented, the MP said. Secareanu called on the administration of the country to review the decision to cancel the opening of two Romanian consulates and condemned the Broadcasting Coordination Council for its decision to offer the license for the state-owned network No. 2, which is used to relay the television channel TVR 1, to a newly set up channel. The MP voiced hope that the current session will witness a balanced and constructive dialogue between the Opposition and power. Dumitru Diacov, leader of the Democratic Party (PD), said they should work out a well-organized agenda that would meet interests of the population and of the country. He stressed the necessity of maintaining a political balance, saying that PD will preserve the same constructive position, but the ruling party, which plays an important role in this, should “hear the Opposition”. The PD leader referred to the situation in broadcasting, stressing that even if the Broadcasting Code was adopted, document formulated with the assistance of MPs from a number of factions and examined by international organizations, the Company “Teleradio-Moldova” remains an instrument of the government, to which the Opposition practically does not have access. Serafim Urechean, leader of the Our Moldova Alliance (AMN), said the parliamentary groups whose representatives form new coalitions at local level should join efforts. “It is time to replace the secret agreements with the power with open public debates. The so-called “presidential majority” lost its significance even for its members after the last local elections,” Urechean said. According to him, AMN considers senior authorities’ warnings to the councilors and to the citizens that refused to vote the Communist candidates as dangerous for the internal stability of the country. On the contrary, the AMN leader said, the central administration should support all the local authorities, regardless of their political orientation. Urechenu reiterated the idea regarding the immediate replacement of the Government with a national anti-crisis cabinet Eugenia Ostapciuc, leader of the Communist faction, said that the draft budget for 2008 is one of the PCRM’s priorities. Speaking about this summer’s local elections, she said that despite political opponents’ statements, the Communist Party won these elections, while the Opposition parties managed to win a majority in some district councils only by corrupting the councilors. The respective alliances were created not to solve the problems, but to distribute certain posts, Ostapciuc said. Eugenia Ostapciuc also said that some of the MPs have already launched the election campaign for the parliamentary elections of 2009. She called on them to channel their efforts into the activity of legislator. PCRM will continue making efforts to fulfill its program, Ostapciuc concluded. The autumn-winter session will close at the end of this year. The MPs will examine and vote the draft budget for 2008, will adopt the law on political parties in second reading, will probably pass a new code on education etc.