The law on NGOs whose current variant is rejected by Prime Minister Ion Chicu does not pose a threat to Moldova. According to the president of the Action and Solidarity Party Maia Sandu, the given law does not contain formulations that go against the national interests, IPN reports.
“It is not clear why the Prime Minister now formulates such questions in relation to a law that is necessary in a democratic country. Evidently, the European Union would never insist on formulations or a law that run counter to the national interests or the democratic processes,” Maia Sandu stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
The politician said the Premier’s attitude shows irresponsibility and disrespect for the European partners and the country’s citizens. The given law does not need to be amended and Parliament should adopt it. “We hope it will be passed as there are many people in Parliament and not only Ion Chicu decides. The MPs realize that the country needs this money and will vote for this law that introduces penalties for money laundering and terrorism combating and also the law that annuls the granting of citizenship for money”.
Besides the existing conditionality elements, Parliament should also undertake to launch a process to choose several companies that will conduct an audit at the Audiovisual Council and the Competition Council. “We broadly discussed the problems experienced in relation to these two authorities and the European Union now says that a company or two companies will come to carry out an audit, an assessment of their activity so that we have evidence about the quality of the decisions taken by the two councils.”
The Moldovan authorities should take the required measures to gain access the second tranche of €30 million of the macro-financial assistance available under the memorandum signed with the EU in 2017. If the authorities do not manage to also access the third tranche of €40 million under the same memorandum that expires in July, the EU is ready to continue to provide support, but the Government hasn’t yet filed an application for a new program of macro-financial assistance.
