New majority in CMC wants to privatize municipal paper Capitala, Opposition councilors say

A number of municipal councilors from the former coalition accuse the factions of PCRM, PPCD, PSD, PUM and councilor Valeri Climenco of attempt to privatize the municipal paper Capitala. They say that the proposal of the Communist councilor Alexandru Roman to investigate why the special copy of the newspaper issued on the occasion of the Language Day was not sent to subscribers was used as a pretext for taking over the power, Info-Prim Neo reports. On September 23, the two camps accused each other of pursuing personal interests. Roman demanded creating a commission that will examine the case, accusing the Liberal Party (PL) of using the paper as promotional instrument and of distributing it to the people that gathered in the Great National Assembly Square on August 31. “The subscribers’ right to be informed was violated,” said the quoted source, proposing that the commission should include two councilors on behalf of the PCRM faction because it is numerically larger. He was backed by the president of the PPCD faction Alexandru Corduneanu. “The paper used to be Urecheanu’s (Serafim Urecheanu, the AMN leader and former mayor of Chisinau – e.n.) and Ursu’s (Vasile Ursu, former acting mayor), and now it is Chirtoaca’s (Dorin Chirtoaca, the mayor of Chisinau),” said the president of the Christian-Democratic faction. The PL president Mihai Ghimpu replied that the newspaper contains the opinions of a number of councilors and faction members. “I was 18 when I gave the last interview for the paper Capitala,” Ghimpu said. The AMN councilor Oleg Cernei said that the present majority in the CMC aims to privatize this paper too, “in the same way as the Communists did with the radio station Antena C, while PPCD with the television channel Euro TV” (mass media institutions that belonged to the Chisinau administration until the start of 2007, when they were privatized – e.n.). “Just tell straight that you want to privatize the paper. I agree that we must set up a commission that would propose another conception for the paper. But to create a commission because Roman did not receive a copy of the paper is ridiculous and humiliating for the Municipal Council,” Oleg Cernei said. Accused by the PL councilor Ion Cebanu that being a university lecturer she supports the Communists in their actions, Loretta Handrabura, of the Social-Democratic faction, said that she does this because “when everything is OK in an area or a matter, there is nothing you should be afraid of”. “If we pretend to be Romanians, let’s prove it by our acts,” she said, adding that she does not feel comfortable in the CMC anymore as it became a ‘buffoonery’. Loretta Handrabura’s reply caused another conflict. Councilor Valerii Climenco said that “it is bizarre to say that you are Romanian at a time when you are a councilor”. “The nationality is not a visiting card,” he added. In reply, Oleg Cernei said that he felt offended by Climenco’s insults and proposed that the Russian-language speakers in the Council should attend courses at the Romanian Language House to learn Romanian. He demanded that Climenco answered his “good day” in Romanian. Initially, it was suggested creating a commission composed of 8 members that would investigate the case related to the Capitala paper – by a councilor on behalf of every faction. Later, the councilors of PL and PLDM withdrew their candidates, while AMN proposed no one. After several hours of debates, 22 councilors voted in favor of setting up a commission formed of 5 members that will analyze the work and the financial situation of the municipal paper Capitala. The commission is composed of the Communist councilors Alexandru Roman and Tatiana Cunetschi, PUM councilor Oleg Onishchenko, the leader of “Ravnopravie” Valerii Climenco and the deputy director of the General Finance Division Valentina Vazdautan.