Parliament and civil society satisfied with bilateral relations

The cooperation between Parliament and civil society developed in 2010, but witnessed shortcomings as well, participants in the yearly conference “Cooperation between Parliament and Civil Society” said Wednesday. It was stressed that in order to remove the drawbacks, the relations should be strengthened by mechanisms that would make the representatives of the central public authorities and civil society to fulfill their duties, Info-Prim Neo reports. Acting President Marian Lupu said that during six years of the creation of the first official framework for the cooperation between legislature and civil society, there has been the interaction needed for a democratic state to exist, with the NGO sector making sure that this interaction continues. He spoke about the successful projects implemented within this partnership, mentioning the Volunteering Law, the Law on the Legal Status of Adoption, the Law on the Freedom of Expression, the Law on the Public-Private Partnership, the human rights plan of action, and others. Marian Lupu stated that there were a number of drawbacks that derived from the impossibility of developing the informational abilities following the destruction of the equipment during the April 2009 events. “Some of the MPs did not prove enough responsibility and readiness to interact with the partners from the NGO sector,” he said. He also said that civil society can be blamed for insufficient organization and discontinuous communication, concentration on only several areas and omission of such important fields as national security, defense and public order, agriculture and food industry. Arcadie Barbarosie, director of the Public Policy Institute, said that when the strategy for cooperation between Parliament and civil society was adopted in 2005, the legislature pledged to publish the bills on its website so that proposals for improving them could be submitted. The strategy also envisions public consultations, work in commissions, etc. This mechanism worked, but only in the areas in which the NGOs are more interested, including the Broadcasting Code, the electoral legislation, decentralization, etc. According to Arcadie Barbarosie, for the cooperation to be stronger, the legislative body should finance the NGOs. “Financial resources should be identified in the national budget or the legislature’s budget so that Parliament could hire, by public contests, persons or organizations that may contribute to the improvement of the legislation,” he stated. Secretary general of the National NGO Council Antonita Fonari said the cooperation between Parliament and civil society was successful, but a number of planned measures have not been implemented. “It was proposed that the NGOs should be allowed to obtain 2% of the income tax collected from private individuals,” she stated. Deputy Speaker Liliana Palihovici said the cooperation program includes a bill with amendments to the Election Code, which set a woman presence quota for the lists of candidates for the parliamentary and local elections. “We should make a team and work hard to make sure that this bill is accepted by all the lawmakers,” said Liliana Palihovici. The conference “Cooperation between Parliament and Civil Society” is an annual event aimed at making the partnership between the legislative body and civil society more efficient.