Some institutions will decide budgets by themselves

For the first time in history, when adopting the state budget law for 2010 in first and second readings, the MPs decided to modify the budget adoption procedure for a number of organizations with specific character, Info-Prim Neo reports. At a meeting of the Press Club, Liberal-Democratic MP Veaceslav Ionita, who heads the parliamentary commission for budget and finances, said the members of the commission consider it is not right that the Government adopts the budget of the Constitutional Court or of the Broadcasting Coordination Council for example. “These and other institutions are not subordinate to the Government or the Parliament, but the Government and the Parliament decide their budgets. They thus become dependent on the state institutions and this affects their impartiality and freedom,” Ionita said. According to the new procedure, the Constitutional Court determines a budget according to its real necessities and sends it to the parliamentary commission for examination. The members of the commission can ask the opinion of the Ministry of Finance or other institutions, but are not obliged to accept it. If the Constitutional Court insists on the initial budget, the parliamentary commission approves it. Veaceslav Ionita considers that the press is the most efficient control instrument for these institutions. “The press informs about the accuracy or illegalities committed by them in managing the financial resources. The officials involved will have to answer to the society,” he said. In a draft budget presented to the commission for budget and finances, the Constitutional Court asked to be allocated 6.5 million lei from the state budget. After discussions and analyses, its budget was reduced by about 400,000 lei.