Opposition didn’t let PM to present annual report

Several MPs from the opposition ceased the presentation of the report on the Government’s activity in the second half of the year by the Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev, during the plenary sitting of the Parliament on December 22. At the beginning of the session, Serafim Urecheanu, leader of the “Moldova Noastra” Alliance (AMN) repeated the request launched a day before on creating a commission which would examine the violations committed in the process of implementing the Audiovisual Code concerning “Antena C” and “Euro TV Chisinau”. 31 MPs voted for this proposal, representing AMN, Democrat Party, independent MPs and one – representing PPCD. In retort, the leader of the communist faction, Eugenia Ostapciuc proposed that the monitoring of this issue is made in the specialized committee of the Parliament. This proposal has been supported by the majority. On the other hand, Urecheanu stated that AMN will block the presentation of the PM’s report. Vasile Tarlev started presenting the document at 12.30. About 5 minutes later, while he was speaking about the growth of the investments in the fixed capital, one of the opposition MPs whistled. Speaker Marian Lupu suspended the presentation of the report. He stated that the behaviour of the opposition MPs during the presentation had been discussed within the session of the Standing Bureau. He stated that if there is no interest in the report, he would cease the presentation and will interrupt its examination. Several moments after the presentation had been resumed, AMN MPs and the independent ones started making noise, so that Marian Lupu stopped the presentation of the Government’s report. The PM, Vasile Tarlev thanked the audience for their “interest in the national economy” and left wishing the MP’s “good luck”. Solicited by the press to comment these actions, Oleg Serebrian representing the Social Liberal faction, stated that it was a protest against the behaviour of the communist majority. The MP representing AMN Leonid Bujor told in the same context that it was a sign of protest against the unwillingness of the majority faction to create a special commission which would analyze the situation at “Antena C” and “Euro TV”, but also against the fact that Vasile Tarlev have never honoured the invitations of the MPs to come to the Parliament in order to answer the interpellations. “We have acknowledged that the PM shows a lack of respect for the Parliament and we answered exactly in the same way”, stated Bujor, specifying that the MPs do not want to hear reports, made in a laudatory manner. On Thursday, the opposition MPs blocked the central rostrum of the Parliament as a token of protest against the majority that didn’t want to vote for the creation of the commission for solving the situation of the two audiovisual stations.