Parliament passes National Security Concept as AMN leaves in protest

The Parliament on Thursday, May 22, approved Moldova's National Security Concept in final reading with the vote of the Communist and Social-Democrat MPs, Info-Prim Neo reports. The sitting started with heated debates as a number of Opposition MPs demanded that the bill be removed from the order of the day, arguing, in particular, that the report of the specialized parliamentary commission, a key prerequisite for adoption, had been approved in just several minutes in the morning of the day. MP Leonid Bujor of the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) Party told the lawmakers that the members of the commission for national security, defense and public order were summoned at 7:30 AM, and 15 minutes later the report and the summary of the draft concept were ready. Bujor wondered how it was possible to examine and OK as many as 82 amendments contained in the report in just 15 minutes. AMN president Serafim Urecheanu requested a 10 minute break, after which he delivered a speech, demanding the pro-government media to cover objectively the events from the Parliament and asking for his right of reply from several TV programs. The AMN leader also demanded that the Parliament's Standing Bureau satisfy, within a week, the request made on March 14 to bring the procedures of examining legislative initiatives into harmony with the legislation. If these demands are not satisfied, Urecheanu warned, the MPs will resort to tougher obstructionist measures like blocking the plenary meetings. Eventually, the Moldova Noastra group and several unaffiliated parliamentarians left the sitting hall to protest the reluctance of the Communist majority to give proper attention to their proposals. “It's not a perfect document, but it's better than nothing”, said in support Dumitru Braghis, the leader of the Social-Democratic group, which remained in the sitting hall alongside the Communists, the Democrats, and the Christian-Democrats. Unlike Bragis, Democrat Marcel Raducanu announced his faction would not vote for the concept because their amendments hadn't been taken into account. The same reason was set forth by the Christian-Democrats. After brief debates, the National Security Concept of the Republic of Moldova passed with the vote of 58. The document offers a general outlook on the security climate at national and international levels, defines the goal of the national security, sets out the general lines for the national security, the values and the principles that must be protected by the state and society. The concept explicitly defines the Republic of Moldova as a permanently neutral state, which means that our country is not and will never be part of military blocs, will not take part in military actions and will not allow the stationing of foreign military troops or armament on its territory. The document also includes aspects of international cooperation, provides for reforms in the national security system, and lists the elements of the national security strategy.