There has always been competition between local and central authorities, mayor

There has always been competition between the local and central authorities, especially between the administration of a capital city and the central administration, considers Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca. According to him, the situation in most of the European states is much the same. In an interview for Info-Prim Neo of the series “Year 2012 in Moldova’s and Moldovans’ life”, which was {published on December 19}, Dorin Chirtoaca said that there are technical cooperation relations between the subdivisions of the Chisinau City Hall and the Government’s subdivisions. There are projects where the viewpoints coincide. Consensus is reached when the opinions are divergent. In 2012, everyone concentrated on what they had to do in their areas. “We want changes to be made to the legislation so that the powers of the local authorities everywhere, not only in Chisinau, are strengthened. “We will see yet how the decentralization strategy is implemented. This strategy seems a good document from theoretical viewpoint and it benefits the mayor’s offices, specifically the local authorities. But there are situations with which we do not agree. For example, we do not agree that the police should remain strictly under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. I mean the police that maintain public order and the traffic police, which should be managed by the City Hall, as in many European countries. We also do not agree with the procedures to modify the method of financing the education institutions. There are many things to be discussed and negotiated,” said the mayor. According to him, the previous governments deprived them of a series of powers in 2003-2007 and they should be returned to them so that the City Hall can deal with the unauthorized constructions and fine those who break the legislation on ecology or on something else. The Info-Prim Neo interviews of the series “Year 2012 in Moldova’s and Moldovans’ life” that were launched on December 6 were opened by Prime Minister Vlad Filat. Afterward, their opinions about the performance of the passing year were stated by the Communist leader Vladimir Voronin, OSCE Mission Head Jennifer Brush, Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar, and Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim. The next interviews will be with the expert of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT Corneliu Gurin, director of the National Anticorruption Center Viorel Chetraru, head of the Moldovan communiqué in Quebec, Canada, Ala Mindicanu, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov, and singer Cristofor Aldea Teodorovici.