Promo-LEX recommends the authorities to withdraw or, in accordance with the case, Parliament to reject the bill to return to military ranks at the Ministry of Home Affairs that is to be given a second reading. In a letter to the Parliament’s commission on national security, defense and public order, the Association says the assignment of military ranks to a civil police body is useless and illogical and can represent a hindrance to the police reform, IPN reports.
The letter says the demilitarization of the police force was one of the objectives stipulated in the concept for the reformation of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Even if formally the demilitarization aspect was dealt with by providing the status of public servants to the personnel with a special status of the Ministry of Home Affairs, other measures were to be taken to ensure the effective, long-lasting transformation of the activity of the police.
Promo-LEX draws attention to the fact that the problem of demilitarization is stipulated in a number of documents, including the police development strategy for 2016-2020. “The implementation of this strategy was possible owing to the generous support offered by the development partners to the Republic of Moldova, especially the budget support of about €51 million for the police reform allocated by the European Union. As the authorities of the Republic of Moldova show lack of consistency in promoting measures in this field, while the practical utility of the bill that was given a first reading is doubtful, we warn the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the presidential administration about the risk of losing the development partner’s confidence and the financial support provided for doing real reforms in the field,” noted the Association.
It also says that one of the project’s declared goals is to eliminate confusion concerning special ranks and to correlate these with the special ranks of other public institutions by returning to the old names of special ranks that would correspond to the military ranks will generate greater ambiguity, especially as regards the special ranks of sub-officers.
