The local councillors did not reach a consensus over the salary they must get for their work on the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC). The discussions over this matter held during the meeting of November 27 ended with no results, so the councillors decided to return to this topic the second say. The draft decision submitted for adoption included the phrase “five minimal salaries for every meeting day” – 90 lei. This sum was also offered to the local councillors of the former CMC. Eugenia Ciumac, head of the Bookkeeping and Economic Analysis Division, said that the current legislation does not set a salary ceiling for the councillors and it is up to them to decide on their remuneration. The discussions were opened by the Social-Liberal councilman Eduard Musuc, who expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the members of second-level councils get by 300-400 lei for a meeting day, though they do less than the Chisinau councillors, who come together two-four times a month or even more often. Alexandu Tanase, leader of the Liberal Democratic faction, proposed a salary of 400 lei, arguing that many of the councillors spend most of the time solving the municipality’s problems and they do not have another source of income than the work on the CMC. Tanase urged his colleagues to profit from the absence of the press and discuss openly this subject. He also said that he will give the money he will earn to a nongovernmental organization or for other purposes. The representative of the Humanist Party of Moldova Oleg Oniscenco suggested raising the sum to 500 lei for a meeting day. When the councillors saw a journalist in the hall later, they pretended not to notice. But they changed the message. Corina Fusu, of the Liberal Party, said that the remuneration should not exceed 200 lei for a meeting day because the budget for 2008 is austere and in deficit. The Liberal Gheorghe Brega proposed voting on the draft decision, which stipulates a sum equal to five minimal salaries (90 lei). The unaffiliated councillor Mihai Severovan, who represented the National Liberal Party, submitted the most altruist proposal – to work as volunteers and ask no salary. None of the proposals voted on gained the necessary number of votes. Some of the councillors proposed rejecting the draft decision and sending it back for re-examination. But their proposal was not passed because many councillors left the room meanwhile and the quorum was not present. The discussions will continue on Wednesday, November 28.