Parliamentary opposition and power not sharing opinions about term of CoE monitoring for Moldova

Leaders of the Moldovan parliamentary opposition consider that there is much work to do until the Council of Europe (CoE) will stop monitoring Moldova. At the same time, the leader of the parliamentary faction representing the Communist Party considers that the CoE monitoring is nothing serious and considers that the CoE could suspend it this year. Leaders of parliamentary factions delivered statements in this regard to journalists on March 13, after separate meetings with the visiting co-rapporters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE for Moldova. Serafim Urecheanu, leader of the Our Moldova Alliance, said that the monitoring will last many years ahead because Moldova faces serious problems. Judging after some questions and conclusions of co-rapporteurs, the monitoring will be of a long term and this stance corresponds to wishes of opposition, he noted. The leader of the parliamentary faction representing the Christian Democratic People’s Party, Vlad Cubreacov, considers that the rapporteurs are interested with each of new developments in Moldova in order to approach together the suspension of Moldova’s monitoring by PACE. The suspension will not be a concession to Moldova, but it will come only if Moldova meets all the standards and exigencies of the Council of Europe through legislation and practices. The direction of move is good, but the speed is slow and we will have to speed up the legislative reform and improvement of internal practices, Cubreacov noted. The term depends on Moldova. The ball is on Chisinau’s field, rapporteurs can only suggest some things, can give useful advice and Moldova alone can change the things, so that to obtain the suspension of the monitoring, Cubreacov underlined. He stressed that this is a very necessary thing, which could give an impulse to the dialogue with the European Union. It is known that no country in Central and Eastern Europe could join the E.U. as long as it was under the monitoring of PACE. This is a strategic objective that the entire political class must reach, both the power and the opposition, there is no room for fight here, we are sentenced to a political consensus on strategic problems, Cubreacov added. On the other hand, the chairwoman of the communist faction, Eugenia Ostapciuc, said that the monitoring is nothing very bad for our country. She noted that the monitoring is an advice of the CoE and Moldova should not hurry up to be happy of its suspension. Ostapciuc did not rule out the possibility that the monitoring could be suspended this year, but she hopes that the press would not write something negative if this does not happen. PACE adopted last resolution on Moldova on October 4, 2005. Its general conclusion was that “Moldova has been a member of the Council of Europe for 10 years and it has advanced significantly on the path of democratic reforms but a number of important commitments have not yet been met in a satisfactory manner.” The report developers said then that they agree to stop monitoring Moldova, but noted that „this depends on Moldova.”