Parliamentary parties learn again majority and Opposition discipline. Info-Prim Neo Analysis

The parliamentary group of the Communists Party (PCRM) accuses the government coalition of antidemocratic acts, while the Alliance for European Integration (AEI), which holds the majority, recommends the Communists to learn how to act while in the Opposition, Info-Prim Neo reports. The MPs from the coalition and those from the PCRM clashed on the structure of the future Government in first and second reading. The Communist MPs did not take part in the vote. [Iurie Stoikov, a member of the parliamentary group of the PCRM] told Info-Prim Neo that Communists’ proposals weren’t even examined before rejected. “Under the Parliament’s regulations, all the amendments proposed by the MPs after the second reading must be examined by the specialized commissions and then submitted to the main commission. A report is presented in the Parliament afterward,” Stoikov said. According to him, the society will suffer serious consequences if the Alliance continues to act like this. “The amendments submitted by the Communist MPs are based on professional knowledge, not political conceptions or principles concerning the distribution of seats in the future government. “While the PCRM had been in power we accepted not only amendments proposed by the Opposition, but even entire laws,” Stoikov said, referring to the work of the previous Parliament. At the same time, [the MP of the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) Leonid Bujor] said that the Opposition is treated with much more respect that in the previous legislative body. “The Communist MPs always say that the regulations are being violated, but do not specify what articles are not observed,” Bujor said. The members of the Alliance reminded that few of the Opposition’s legislative initiatives were put to the vote in the previous Parliament. “Most of the initiatives put forward by the Opposition were not even included in the agenda, but later they adopted decisions that were similar in content with our initiatives. The only difference was that they were tabled by the Government. They copied!” Leonid Bujor said. “If they complain like this, let’s ask them what legislative initiatives of the Opposition did the Communist government accept in the previous legislature? How many times did the Opposition emerge triumphant? Never. We have an electoral program to fulfill and certainly the PCRM will make everything possible to hinder reforms. They are afraid of reforms and changes. They are afraid that their people who occupy key posts will lose them. They area afraid to lose the influence in the society and therefore do their utmost to delay the formation of the Government and the implementation of the necessary changes,” said [Anatol Salaru, the leader of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Party (PL).] The MPs of the AEI say that they do not pay the Communists back, but stress that the PCRM must realize that the power has changed and that they are now in the Opposition. “At the present stage, the parliamentary majority wants to democratize the society step by step. This process must start in the Parliament. We will respect the reasonable proposals formulated by the PCRM because we all were elected by the Moldovan people,” Bujor said. “They had governed the country for eight years and brought us to a disaster by their methods: we have one million Moldovans working abroad; we are the poorest country in Europe; our GDP is on the wane; the economic growth is fueled only by remittances. We must change things. Repeating their methods means perpetuating this disaster,” Salaru said. [The MP on behalf of the PCRM Vladimir Turcan] hopes that the wall will be broken and the reason will triumph over the political interests. [The Communist MP Grigore Petrenko] said that the AEI shows its antidemocratic character by its actions. “This parliamentary majority that says it is democratic and liberal is anti-European and antidemocratic in nature. They permanently disconnect the microphones of the Opposition MPs and do not put the proposals of the Communists to the vote,” he said. “We will attract the attention of the international organizations and embassies working in Moldova to the flagrant violations of the Parliament’s regulations and legislature. We will continue to be as insistent and active,” Grigore Petrenko promised. “We never acted like this. We did not disconnect the microphones and put the Oppositions’ proposals to the vote.” “It is ridiculous when Maria Postoiko (the head of the parliamentary group of the PCRM – e.n.) complains that the rights of the PCRM group specified in the legislature’s regulations are being infringed as she was the one who often disconnected the microphones in the previous Parliament. I have the shorthand records of most of the plenary sittings and can prove this”, said Leonid Bujor. [Veaceslav Ionita, a member of the parliamentary group of the PLDM] said that things inside the parliamentary commission for economy, budget and finance that he heads are different. “We agreed inside the commission to leave the political issues aside and hold only professional discussions. If logical and good proposals are submitted, we will accept them, no matter who formulated them,” Ionita said. “I always accepted the reasonable proposals. I want to say that some of their proposals coincide with ours. I don’t think it’s right to make a difference when a proposal is good,” Anatol Salaru said. The AEI stresses the necessity of a political dialogue between the Alliance and the PCRM in order to unblock the situation in the Parliament and ensure a better functioning of the state institutions. The Communist leaders say a dialogue is out of question when the Alliance has such a behavior.