The compliance of the Moldovan legislation with European and international standards concerning the functioning and financing of political parties and electoral campaigns are discussed at a conference which is held on 22 and 23 May 2007 in Chisinau. Speaker Marian Lupu stated Tuesday, May 22, at the opening of the conference,that the continuous improvement of the national legislation concerning political parties is not just a wish to produce pieces of legislation, but is also a necessity dictated by the importance of creating a proper legal framework to establish equitable conditions for political parties. This way, the new draft law on political parties, approved in first reading by the Parliament and submitted to the Council of Europe for expert advice, is a step to update older provisions and initiate new ones, such as the issue of financing political parties from the State Budget, which would be an essential innovation for Moldova, able to encourage the development of political parties and contribute to an efficient financial transparency of their activity, Lupu said. Ambassador Louis O'Neill, the Head of the OSCE mission to Moldova, mentioned that all political parties have to be accountable and honest in front of each other. In addition, he stressed that the draw-up of the new law needs a careful approach, and this process must involve civil society, as well as voters. The best test of quality is how the law will be put into practice, the ambassador underlined. According to Vladimir Ristovski, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to Moldova, CoE appreciates the initiative for improving the existent legislation and the regulating of the political parties’ financing system. Ristovski hopes that the Parliament of Moldova will properly comply with the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers, as well as with experts’ opinion provided on this occasion. “What is very important in the further improvement of the quality of legislation regulating the financing aspects of the political parties is the following: to avoid unnecessary limitations to the exercising of the basic democratic freedom of association and to achieve appropriate balance between public and private financing of political parties,” Ristovski said. The Draft Law on Political Parties was approved in first reading in December 2006, and Speaker Lupu expressed his hope that it would pass the final reading by the end of the current parliamentary session. One of the innovations of the aforementioned law is State Budget financing for political parties. The amount of annual disbursements intended for financing political parties will be 0.05% of the planned revenue for the given budgetary year. At present, there are 27 political parties registered in Moldova.