The current legislation does not clearly define the NGOs created by political parties and, consequently, there are many interpretations, director of the Oral History Institute Moldova Alexei Tulbure stated in IPN’s public debate “Why did conditions for receiving EU macro-financial assistance become an apple of discord?”.

According to him, the current law on nongovernmental organizations allows the Ministry of Justice, by the examination of the annual reports of these foundations, to intervene in their work and to stop their activity if it considers that they became involved in politics. “There is yet a clear delimitation in the European practice,” noted Alexei Tulbure, arguing in favor of the adoption of the new law on NGOs.

“In Europe, for example, the foundations created as part of political movements are considered to be associated with parties, but this does not mean that they deal with politics. In Moldova, there are five German foundations, including Friedrich Ebert and Konrad Adenauer. They are party foundations. They were created by parties, but do not become involved in politics,” explained the expert.

According to him, the opposition, by pleading for the adoption of the new law, tries to hold accountable such foundations as “Edelweiss”. “The charity for this foundation was a secondary activity and the political objectives were the major ones for it,” stated Alexei Tulbure, adding that he can say the same about the foundations of the First Ladies who worked and work in Moldova.

The public debate “Why did conditions for receiving EU macro-financial assistance become an apple of discord?” was held in the framework of the project “Overcoming stereotypes of European integration through communication” that is implemented by IPN with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.