Retrospect of the 3d session of XVI Parliament legislature (February 9 – July 29, 2006)

[FEBRUARY 2006] [MPs have different opinions regarding the Resolution of PACE on condemning totalitarian communist regimes] MPs discussed on Thursday, February 9 the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on condemning totalitarian communist regimes. The “Moldova Noastra” Alliance criticized the fact that the representatives of the Communists’ Party voted against the Resolution. Communist MPs named the opposition colleagues as “ex communist party members who are pretending to be liberal”. PACE condemned on January 25 the massive violations of human rights committed by the totalitarian communist regimes. [Changes to the Law on salary system in the public sphere were approved] The parliament approved on Thursday, 9 February, the majority of changes proposed by the head of the state, Vladimir Voronin, to the Law on salary system in the public sector. The Communists vote for these changes. The parliament adopted this law on 25 December 2005. The president refused to promulgate it and sent it to the legislative for re-examination. [Deputies approved creation of a new ministry] Parliament approved on Thursday, 16 February, in first and second reading, the creation of the Local Public Administration Ministry. After many contradictory discussions, the bill was approved with the vote of Communist deputies and certain opposition ones. [Communist MPs reject a draft law on canceling VAT when importing products necessary for cultivation of agricultural plots] Communist MPs rejected on Friday, February 24, a draft law on canceling the Value Added Tax when importing pesticides, mineral fertilizers, equipment and complementary device. The draft law aimed at decreasing their cost. [MARCH] [Businessmen of certain localities of the left bank of Nistru benefit from facilities] Parliament of Moldova approved on Thursday, 2 March, in second reading, the Law on setting certain additional measures to support the entrepreneurship activity done in the villages of the left bank of Nistru. The law regarding the facilities at registration and activity of business of 10 villages of Dubasari district, on the left bank of Nistru, was approved. [Persons guilty of condemning Moldova at ECHR could be held responsible] Moldova could recover the sums paid for the execution of the decisions of ECHR due to the reconciliation agreements between state and the appealing party. The Parliament approved on Thursday, March 9 in second reading a draft law on this issue. [Parliament approves a declaration on the situation in Transnistria] Parliament adopted on Thursday, March 9 a declaration on “Artificial increase of the tension on the Transnistrian segment of Moldova-Ukrainian border”, where it expresses its concern regarding the dangerous evolution of the situation in the Transnistrian region of the country. [Parliament created a committee which will elaborate draft laws on local public autonomy] The Parliament approved on Thursday, March 30, the creation of a special committee for the elaboration of draft laws on strengthening the local public autonomy. The committee is composed of 13 MPs from all parliamentary factions and independent MPs. The committee is headed by the Speaker Marian Lupu. [APRIL] [Parliament approves in first reading the Audiovisual Code] The Parliament approved on April 6 in first reading the draft Audiovisual Code. The draft generated intense debates in the Parliament, being finally approved with the votes of communist, democrat and Christian-democrat MPs. The draft will be discussed during 2 months by the civil society, journalists and politicians. [AMN Faction boycotts Parliament’s sitting and demands speaker’s resignation] The Faction of Our Moldova Alliance (AMN) accuses the leadership of the Moldovan Parliament of ignoring the major interests of citizens and of the country and demands the resignation of speaker Marian Lupu. The AMN faction boycotted on Thursday, April 20, the sitting of the Legislature protesting against „the attitude of the Parliament’s leadership towards the faction.” [MPs from Chisinau consider it is necessary to halt the tentative of some political forces from Russia to label to the „Wine Crisis” a political subtext] The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova worries about the declaration of the Russian Duma that supports hardening the sanitary control of the products imported in the Russian Federation. After several debates, MPs approved on Friday, April 21 a declaration that expresses their position towards the declaration of the Russian Duma, adopted at the middle of this week. [MAY] [Changing the composition of Parliament’s Standing Bureau raises big smoke] The number of communist MPs in the Standing Bureau of the Parliament has increased, despite the fact that the composition of the faction is still the same. The Parliament approved on Thursday, May 18, changes in the composition of the Standing Bureau, which raised big smoke in the Parliament, being criticized by the opposition. [JUNE] [Parliament abolished visa regime for EU, Switzerland, USA, Canadian and Japanese citizens] The citizens of EU member states, Switzerland, USA, Canada and Japan will have the possibility to visit Moldova without visas. The Parliament approved on June 8, in final reading a draft law on this issue. The document stipulates the unilateral abolishment, starting January 1, 2007, of the visa regime for the citizens of the mentioned-above states. [Death penalty banned for good] The death penalty will not exist anymore in Moldova. The Parliament operated amendments to the Constitution banning this form of penal punishment. The deputies voted on Thursday, June 29, unanimously changing of the art. 24 of the Constitution, excluding the article which provided for death penalty for offences made during wars and risk of war. [JULY] [Authors of draft law on withdrawing from CIS recalled it from voting] The draft law on denouncing the creation Agreement of CIS, presented in the Parliament by MPs, Viatalia Pavlicenco and Valeriu Cosarciuc was recalled from voting at the request of the authors. They justified their decision by the fact that their initiative will not be supported by the communists’ faction. [Parliament reduces election threshold for local elections] Local elections will not be considered valid if less than a quarter of persons having the right to vote, compared with one third as the legislation in force was previously stipulating, will participate in elections. The Parliament approved these amendments in final reading on Thursday, July 13. [Parliament votes controversial draft Audiovisual Code] Audiovisual Code (AC) was voted on Thursday, July 27 in final reading without coming to an agreement between the MPs of all factions and independent ones. The draft AC, proposed by the Parliament for examination in second reading, generated controversial disputes which lasted almost 2 hours. The draft had about 170 amendments, some of them being intensely debated by the MPs. The most important changes regarding the draft approved in first reading are those referring to appointing and functioning of the Audiovisual Coordinating Council (ACC), the activity of the Observers Council of “Tele Radio Moldova” (TRM) Council and transforming the local public broadcasters into bureaus under TRM. [Moldova needs a truly public radio and TV service – Rene van der Linden] Moldova needs a truly public radio and TV service, which would be financially and editorially independent, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Rene van der Linden declared while delivering a speech from the central tribune of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on Thursday, July 27. [No maximum ceiling for compensations in libel cases] The Parliament decided that the compensations for moral damages in libel cases shall not be estimated using a maximum ceiling system. Yet it specified that the compensations must be reasonable and also dependant on several factors. MPs voted on Friday sitting, July 28 in final reading a bill regarding the amendment of the 16th article of the Civil Code, which includes the aforementioned provisions. [Parliament takes attitude towards future Transnistrian plebiscite] The Parliament expressed its concern about the intention of the illegal administration from Tiraspol to organize in September 2006 an independence referendum. [Districts of Chisinau to be headed by Mayors and district council] Those 5 districts of Chisinau city will be headed by Mayors and district councils, this way the present institution of pretor being canceled. The Parliament adopted on Friday, July 28, a draft law on this issue and amended the law on local public administration, the Electoral Code and the Law on administrative-territorial organization of the Republic of Moldova. [Head of state is not pleased with the foreign investments attracting policy of Moldova] The president of the Republic of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin is not pleased with the way the issue of foreign investments is treated, the head of state declared on Saturday, July 29 at the last plenary sitting of the Parliament in the spring-summer session. According to Voronin “it is incompetent to consider that the inflow of investments will increase significantly due to the sell of those 3.5% of public property. These are not the methods and objectives to talk about today, and it is not about creating a generally accepted economic climate, but about creating a specific economic climate in Moldova.