The National Participation Council regrets the Finance Ministry’s decision to withdraw the bill providing for the use of up to 2% of the salary income tax for supporting noncommercial public organizations. Contacted by IPN, the Council’s head Sergiu Ostaf said that this decision will have repercussions for the government coalition.
According to Sergiu Ostaf, it’s clear that a part of the politicians, who promised to support this bill, including the former finance minister and Prime Minister Iurie Leanca, do not keep their word. The decision to withdraw the bill will directly affect the public organizations in Moldova and their beneficiaries.
Sergiu Ostaf also said the rulers show that they do not want powerful and financially durable civil society and this will affect the dialogue between the politicians and civil society. 2014 starts wrongly for the Moldovan politicians and the relations between civil society and the government will be built in accordance with this decision.
Sergiu Ostaf added that the Finance Ministry’s decision runs counter to Moldova’s European course. There were signals that the bill may be withdrawn last spring and last autumn too, when the state budget was adopted with a number of violations, while the quality of the document was very bad.
The state budget was agreed by violating the principle of decisional transparency and was presented publicly two days before the Government’s meeting. It does not provide for the redirection of money for the benefit of civil society.
