Forty-four members of the National Association of Moldovan Producers (ANPM) are dissatisfied with the fact that the association’s president, former Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev heads a political party, the Centrist Union of Moldova (UCM). At the extraordinary meeting of the ANPC on January 16, they demanded that a new president is elected. But the proposal was rejected by a majority vote, Info-Prim Neo reports. “We think that the post of leader of the ANPM and president of the UCM are incompatible. The politics and business are not compatible. If the things go on this way, the association could be involved in politics, but we do not want it,” said one of the members of the initiative group, Vadim Simionov. The president of the public association “Moldova Mea”, Feodor Ghelici, a member of the ANPM and the head of a transport company, said that the democratic principles are not observed as not all the members of the association expressed their opinion. He also said that the ANPM did not contribute much to the development of small business in Moldova and did not support the economic entities in their efforts. “You did nothing for the small and medium-sized business. As entrepreneur, I continue to face the same problems as before,” Ghelici said, addressing the ANPM president. Vasile Tarlev replied that everything was done in a democratic way, while the proposal to dismiss and elect a new president was put to the vote. “I’m glad that the ANPM is in the center of attention, but we know that this is all politics,” the ex Premier said, adding that the members of the ANPM are also members of different political parties. “We do only economic policy inside the association, aimed at supporting the real sector of the economy, and the law does not ban the ANPM members from being members of political parties.” The National Association of Moldovan Producers is a nongovernmental organization that brings together, according to Vasile Tarlev, over 500 economic entities. It was founded in 1994. Vasile Tarlev was appointed as its president in 1996. On February 5, 2008 Vasile Tarlev was reelected as president for a four-year period.