Councilors of the Party of Socialists on the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) said the Liberal MPs registered with the Parliament’s secretariat a bill to amend the Law on the Status of Chisinau Municipality. According to them, this legislative initiative is aimed at limiting the powers of the CMC and at giving them to the mayor general. The Socialists descried this intention as raider attack on the Chisinau City Hall, IPN reports.

The Socialist group’s leader Ion Ceban told a news conference that the given bill was registered ‘in secret’. It was put forward because the mayor realized that the CMC became functional and transparent. It is also a reaction to the dismissal of a number of functionaries by orders of the CMC. The bill was already approved by the Liberal and Democratic MPs in the meeting of the competent parliamentary commission. “This is a deal between the Liberals’ leader Mihai Ghimpu and the parliamentary alliance controlled by the Democratic Party,” he stated.

Ion Ceban said the bill provides that the Chisinau City Hall will become the functional body of the mayor general and will work based on regulations approved by the mayor. These provisions run counter to the European Charter of Local Self-Government that was signed by Moldova. “Local self-government is exercised through local councils, while the mayor is an authority created discretionarily by the state and is subordinated exclusively to the local councils and works according to their instructions,” stated the Socialist councilor.

Another Socialist councilor, Maxim Lebedinschi said the bill stipulates that the mayor general will have the right to name the heads and deputy heads of the capital city’s districts and other functionaries. It also enables the mayor to make ordinances to demolish unauthorized constructions. “Thus, the mayor will be himself the collective body that must manage the municipality. Moreover, the bill provides that the CMC is obliged to examine practically only the draft decisions coming from the executive,” he stated.

In another development, the Socialist councilors said that they made an approach to the Local Office of the State Chancellery and asked it to pronounce on the dismissal decisions adopted by the CMC. In a response, the institution noted that the appointment and dismissal of functionaries subordinated to the Municipal Council are exclusively within the competence of the Council.