Reorganisation of Antena C and Euro TV arouses big smoke in CMC. Report by Info-Prim Neo

The Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC), through the vote of the communist and Christian-Democrat councillors decided on Thursday, December 14 to organize an investment contest for the sale of the municipal radio and TV stations – Antena C and Euro TV. The same councillors dismissed the present managers of the stations. The 2 decisions raised a scandal in the CMC. [Is the investment contest more human?] The draft decision on the investment contest was proposed by the reorganisation committee, which was created on November 30. The committee includes 4 municipal councillors, however 2 of them “never participated in the committee’s meetings”, according to their colleagues, the interim Mayor Vasile Ursu and two representatives of City Hall’s staff. The draft decision was approved by two committees of the CMC only on Wednesday evening around 19.00; therefore part of the councillors did not even know about document’s stipulations until the beginning of the session. The interim mayor Vasile Ursu declared that the organisation of an investment contest “is a more normal and better method and the possibilities it offers are broader, more humane and protect the interests of the staffs”. The communist and Christian-Democrat councillors supported this opinion. The leader of the communists from the CMC Svetlana Popa said that their intention is not to alien the patrimony or to liquidate the stations, and this decision will allow the staffs to participate in the privatisation of the institutions. On the other hand, a series of councillors opposed the decision. The 18 councillors who requested the organisation of this session proposed their own draft decision which includes the cancellation of the decision made on November 30 and the creation of a committee that would examine the situation and would propose solutions as concerns the reorganisation. Referring to the decision on the investment contest, the councillor Igor Crapivcea said it is illegal and illiterate. The legislation does not even stipulate the term “investment contest for sales”, he said. Mihai Roscovan agreed with his colleague and said that the draft decision was drawn up in a hurry and violates the regulation of CMC so that legal proceedings can be initiated on it. This opinion was supported by several other councillors soliciting the creation of a conciliation committee that would analyze the situation and would propose optimal solutions or would set up a moratorium. Around 18.00, the fraction “Moldova Noastra” Alliance (AMN) solicited a break. They did not manage to come back in the room when the communist and the Christian-Democrat councillors voted the decision of the 18 councillors, which was not approved. Afterwards they voted the draft decision of the committee. The protests of the AMN and independent councillors, who entered the room in mean time, could not change the situation. A committee responsible for the investment contest was created at the meeting, having the same members as the committee created on November 30, also including the mangers of the two stations, who were dismissed after several minutes by the vote of the Communist and Christian-Democrat councillors. The decision was approved at 18.30, after 8 hours of debates. [A trouble never comes alone] Although the CMC decided that the directors of the two broadcasting institutions will be included in the committee, several minutes later they had been dismissed. This proposal was made by Alexandru Corduneanu, the leader of the PPCD faction who invoked the reason that they did not fulfil the decisions of the reorganisation committee in what concerns announcing in the Official Monitor about the reorganisation of the institutions and contracting an independent auditor. The heads of the 2 stations, Arcadie Gherasim and Vasile State denied these accusations, mentioning that they did not receive the decisions. State said that he was called at the meetings of the commission only once, and it happened before the decision on the creation of the committee was signed. “I saw no decision according to which we are obliged to make these announcements”, he stated. State and Gherasim said that the grounds of this decision are clear. Someone wants to take over the municipal broadcasting institutions for a long time and now it became a reality. They said they will initiate legal proceedings against the decision. The “compromise” that the communist and Christian-Democrat councillors made, by including the directors of the stations in the committee is not accidental. Now the CMC, which will continue the meeting on Tuesday, December 19, has the possibility to appoint other managers, more loyal. [Are the staffs conceding?] The session of the CMC raised quite a big smoke. The representatives of the staffs who managed to pass over the policemen from the entrances of the City Hall and hallways also participated in the session. During the session they chanted several times “moratorium”, “shame on you”, “down with the dictatorship” etc. Several times the speeches and voting attempts of the communists and Christain-Democrats had been interrupted by the representatives of the stations’ staffs via their chants. When the chairman of the session, the communist councillor Victor Odobescu tried to propose voting the decision on the investment contest, before the debates on this issue ended, the councillor Oleg Cernei took his microphone. On the other side of the room the representatives of the staffs were protesting. The faction colleague of Odobescu helped him and took the microphone from Cernei. However Cernei managed to “steel” the microphone again and then gave it to Odobescu. The chairman of the session tried to propose a move to vote again and the journalists started chanting. Cernei took the microphone again from Odobescu and the communist and Christian-Democrat councillors announced the results without being heard because of the noise. The session was interrupted and the councillors tried to gather in another room, called “the round room”, but this time the doors had been blocked by policemen. However this attempt was not successful and the session was continued after a break of over 40 minutes. All the actions were filmed by the cameras of the journalists, as well as by one of an intelligence service officer or policeman, who was filming the faces of the journalists from Antena C and Euro TV. [Police does not support us…] In the morning of December 14, the doors of the City Hall were blocked by policemen, who did not allow the representatives of the civil society and even journalists to enter in the building in order to participate in the session of the CMC, even if the legislations stipulates that its sessions are public. Asked why the access in the building is closed the policemen were traditionally answering “it is an order”. From who? Answer: “from my superior”. Some of the journalists managed to get into the building using a backdoor from the courtyard of the City Hall, which was also blocked by policemen. However, after calling the “superior” and reading the name and the position of the person soliciting access, they were allowed in. Also, the policemen blocked the entrance of the session room but went away after Oleg Cernei insisted upon it. As we mentioned before, an unidentified person was filming during the session, especially the members of the two station’s staffs. During a break, Cernei asked him what he was doing. Answer: “it is an order from my superior”. After a discussion on the mobile phone, his superior came and “took” him without any explanations. About 10 policemen from the “Scut” regiment blocked the door of the round room when the councillors attempted to gather there. Afterwards they forced the journalists to step aside to make room for the councillors. One of the policemen, being asked by the reporter of Info-Prim Neo why the access to the meeting is not allowed replied: “you give too many questions”. Meanwhile, another 6 policemen were coming through the backdoor. [… never say die!] The well-known journalist Ion Enache said in 2004, when the activity of the two stations was suspended as a result of a decision of the Audiovisual Coordinating Council that “the horses do not die when the dogs want it”. The staffs of the stations proved at that moment that they can answer to these pressures. The same is happening now and they are ready to dispute by all legal means the decision of the CMC and to protest “until the end”. The civil society and several political parties announced that they will make common cause with the 2 staffs and will support them. This fact was proved by the participation of several parties, NGOs and journalists in this controversial meeting. They stated that it might happen that the gravediggers get buried in the graves prepared for Antena C and Euro TV Chisinau.