Vlad Filat: A Speaker is not an irreplaceable statue

Prime Minister Vlad Filat, the leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party, says he is determined to seek the replacement of the Speaker of Parliament unless Marian Lupu initiates the procedure to dismiss the Prosecutor-General and the director of the Financial Market Commission. “If Mr. Lupu gets obstinate on this matter, then we'll be forced to go on, including by replacing the Speaker of Parliament, who has the exclusive right to initiate the dismissal procedures in relation to these heads of agencies. A Speaker is not a statue that cannot be replaced. If Mr. Lupu doesn't have the required capacity and manliness with which he is so often credited, let him delegate another Democrat representatives to do the job. But it will be a pity”, Vlad Filat stated on Radio Moldova. Vlad Filat stressed that it made sense to keep the Eurointegration Alliance only as long as it worked in the interests of the citizens and not in the narrow interests of some persons. “The Alliance doesn't need to be sacrificed for the sake of fighting tooth and nail for these heads of agencies that didn't do their jobs right and, moreover, were accomplices in certain situations. If for someone thinks these Prosecutor-General and FMC director outweigh the value of the Alliance, then that someone should assume this role of destroyer of the Alliance”. Filat promised further dismissals would follow in the Government. “If my requests are not accepted, for me it's already clear that I'll not be able to work any longer with such people in such important positions that caused this blockage. We need a reshuffle to have functional institutions that are not headed by persons who feel politically protected to do whatever they want”. He went on to add that the dismissals would also affect those who showed no progress, including Lib-Dem members. On Thursday, the Liberal-Democratic Party and the Communist Party together voted to sack Gheorghe Mihai from the post of director of the Security and Intelligence Service on a motion proposed by Vlad Filat. Under the same motion, the Speaker of Parliament was instructed to initiate, within 7 days, the procedure of dismissing Prosecutor-General Valeriu Zubco and the head of the National Commission for the Financial Market Mihail Cibotaru.