Venice Commission will present conclusions on party financing in March

The Venice Commission will present its conclusions on the bill on financing of political parties in Moldova in March. The bill will be examined in the plenary session of March 8-9. The Commission’s opinion will be available to the authorities and the general public after March 11, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the Ministry of Justice. The announcement about the examination of the bill was made by the rapporteurs of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) in a meeting with members of the working group that contributed to the drafting of the bill at the Ministry of Justice. In the meeting, Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim assured the delegates that the Commission’s proposals and comments will be taken into consideration and will contribute to the strengthening of an efficient system for financing parties and election campaigns in Moldova and to the establishment of a party financing monitoring and control system. Central Election Commission (CEC) chairman Iurie Ciocan said the bill contains amendments to at least seven normative documents, namely the Election Code, the Law on Political Parties, the Penal Code, the Code of Administrative Offenses, the Broadcasting Code, the Tax Code, and the Law on the Audit Office. The bill was drafted by a working group created by the CEC in accordance with the plan of action for implementing the national anticorruption strategy for 2011-2015. It regulates the new conditions of financing parties from the state budget and the method of using these resources. The bill obliges the political parties whose annual incomes or costs exceed 1 million lei to order an audit of the financial records at least once in three years. The Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the promotion of the bill, is waiting for the examination results from the National Anticorruption Center, to which the bill was submitted in mid-January.