The head of the nongovernmental organization “Center of Initiatives and Public Authorities Monitoring” Ion Dron made a call to the parliamentary groups and unaffiliated MPs to sign a pact for justice and to give up distributing the posts in the justice system according to political criteria. The call was made in the public debate “What does civil society keep silent about? Views about the negotiations on the formation of a government coalition” that was staged by IPN News Agency in partnership with Radio Moldova.
Ion Dron said that based on the Government Decision on the state of justice in Moldova and the actions that need to be taken to improve the situation in the justice sector, the Center of Initiatives and Public Authorities Monitoring in April and then in July 2011 addressed a public call to the government and a number of state institutions by which it asked that the competent state institutions should hold debates and consultations on a common document called the Pact for Justice in the Republic of Moldova, which would be signed by the three state powers.
“The fact that this appeal was ignored in the period that followed is not a problem for our association. The problem is that the justice sector reform failed and this is no longer a secret. Moreover, the parties that have governed by coalitions since 2010 accuse each other in public of the fact that justice continues to be politically controlled,” stated Ion Dron.
In this connection and given the negotiations held to form a parliamentary coalition, the Center of Initiatives and Public Authorities Monitoring makes a public call by which it asks that the government’s list of priorities should contain the signing of the Pact for Justice in the Republic of Moldova by the three state powers with a view to resuming the justice sector reform. Given the preeminence of the principle of separation and balance of powers in the state, the representatives of the future alliance should publicly undertake to sign a commitment to stop distributing the posts of president of the Supreme Court of Justice, minister of justice, prosecutor general and director of the National Anticorruption Center according to political criteria and algorithm.
“We consider that these two commitments can be in fact the expression of good will of the current political class, which is expected by society as a guarantee for the reformation of the sector and for the freeing of justice from political control. The reaction of the parties involved in negotiations to this call will be a real test to their will and capacity to promote reforms in the most important sector. Most of the ex-Socialist countries, including Romania, achieved real results in the reformation of justice, including through the agency of such a document,” stated Ion Dron.
Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), who is the permanent expert of IPN’s project, said that he subscribes to this appeal, noting its fate will also depend on how many people support it. “If there are sufficient signatories, I think this call can have an impact,” he stated.
National NGO Council head Ecaterina Mardarovici and head of the Center “Pro dialog” Lilia Snegureac, who is the secretary of the Civil Society Platform “Pro-Europa”, expressed their readiness to promote this document through the agency of the organizations that they represent.
The public debate “What does civil society keep silent about? Views about the negotiations on the formation of a government coalition” is the 44th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are staged with support from the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
