With a score of 33, Moldova was placed 117th out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2018 that was launched by Transparency International in Berlin.
Transparency International Moldova said the CPI reveals mainly the perception of usual, routine corruption. The informal usual sums paid annually by the population to representatives of state institutions are derisory compared with the funds stolen from the banking system in the banking fraud. However, the investigation of the theft of the US$ 1 billion in 2018 was delayed and the implementation of the recovery strategies suggested by Kroll and Steptoe&Johnson was thwarted. The end beneficiaries of the theft weren’t held accountable and no progress was made in recovering the stolen funds.
According to TI-Moldova, last July instead, the capital amnesty law that allows legalizing ill-gotten gains was adopted in secret.
For 27% of the country’s population, 2018 was more difficult than 2017, while about 65% said they consider themselves poor or very poor, shows an opinion poll presented by the Association of Sociologists and Demographers of Moldova. Some 70% of the respondents consider the events inside the country go wrong, 15% believe things go right, while 15% don’t know. According to sociologists, the distribution of answers to this question shows a negative attitude concerning the development course for which the Moldovan authorities plead.
In another development, approximately 46% of those interviewed said the reforms in the country are not really efficient, 16% said they are not at all efficient, one third of the respondents said they are somehow efficient and only 3% said they are very efficient. 2% could not give an answer.
If the Democratic Party enters the next Parliament, it will start legislative work by extending the projects initiated the last two years. The first such project will be “Good Roads for Moldova 2” that was launched in 2018. The Party of Socialists will be primarily preoccupied with the economy and will take measures to encourage foreign investors to come to the national economy. The electoral bloc ACUM will lay emphasis on the fight against grand corruption and building of an appropriate business environment so as to develop the economy. Representatives of the three parties discussed these priorities in electoral debates on TVR Moldova channel.
The PDM condemns the use of violence in the election campaign. In a press release, the party said it is the Democratic Party noted it is the first party that signed the electoral Code of Conduct proposed by the Central Election Commission. Moreover, last December, before the start of the electoral period, the PDM made a public call to decency and respect for the law in the campaign, but the opposition parties didn’t react to this call. The PDM calls again upon the opposition to subscribe to its call for calm and non-violence and to condemn any incident in the campaign, no matter who is to blame.
If the Democratic Party does not obtain a majority of seats of MP, the Democrats’ candidate in constituency No. 32 Chisinau Nina Costiuc said she will join the coalition that will be formed so as to solve people’s problems. Asked how the colleagues from the Democratic Party would react, Nina Costiuc said the Democrats will understand. “They are reasonable people. We say that we are for Moldova, for the people. They will surely understand,” she noted, adding the people should not be fanatical and stick to the party, but should come up with solutions for the people when it is necessary.
The candidate of the bloc ACUM DA PAS in constituency No. 32 Chisinau Mihai Popșoi said that if the bloc does not garner a majority of seats in the next legislative body, it will no way form an alliance with the Democratic Party or the Party of Socialists as it does not share the values of these parties.
The president of the Party “Action and Solidarity” Maia Sandu said ACUM undertakes to clear the justice system of corrupt and vulnerable people and to promote meritocracy in the career of judges and prosecutors. It pledges to reform the Supreme Court of Justice so that this becomes a real guarantor of the correctness of the judicial system and to strengthen the National Integrity Authority. The president of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” Andrei Năstase said among the commitments in the justice system, ACUM noted the annulment of the law on citizenship by investment and approval of the Magnitsky Act. The last combines the protection of human rights with the toughening up of the rules for corrupt officials involved in illegal financial transactions.
If parliamentary elections were held next Sunday, 40.5% of the Moldovans would vote for the Party of Socialists in the national constituency, 15.9% for the Democratic Party, 15.7% for the electoral bloc ACUM DA PAS and 3.6% for the Shor Party, shows an opinion poll presented by the Association of Sociologists and Demographers of Moldova on January 29. Only each tenth surveyed person considers the elections in Moldova are free and fair. 47.4% do not share this conviction, while 36% consider the elections are partially free and fair. 7% could not state their opinion on the issue.
Public policy expert Ștefan Gligor said the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019 cannot be called free and fair and there are hundreds of conclusive proofs, starting with the electoral reform and ending with the method of conducing the election campaign, and steps in this regard started to be taken tacitly many months before the legislative elections. He referred to the attack to which the candidate of the electoral bloc ACUM DA PAS Dinu Plângău was subject in Edineț, the vandalizing of the electoral panel of ACUM in Ungheni and the threats against observers of Promo-Lex Association.
The history of the Holocaust is actually the history of everyone. It is a tragedy of everyone and the realization of this thing by the state and each inhabitant of Moldova is an accomplishment that should be further strengthened. After realization and acceptance, a signal to the whole community should be transmitted – that Moldova opposes any form of intolerance and discrimination. Such statements were made in a roundtable meeting in Parliament on January 29.
The Party “Antimafie” People’s Movement will plead for a new republic if it enters the next Parliament, said the party’s leader Sergiu Mocanu. According to him, the Republic of Moldova failed as a state. “We have a country project. When I say country project, I do not refer to the Republic of Moldova. We consider the Republic of Moldova is an instrument by which we can achieve our dream, of human and European civilization, as part of a national Romanian project,” stated Sergiu Mocanu.
The capital city will have an Urban Mobility Plan that is a strategic planning document for developing road and pedestrian infrastructure, public and private transport, for organizing parking places and creating bicycle infrastructure. This will be worked out by national and international experts with the involvement of citizens of Chisinau as part of the Moldova Sustainable Green Cities Project.
Moldova will compete in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in the second semifinal that will take place on May 16. The second semifinal will involve the competitors from Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Moldova, Latvia, Romania, Denmark, Armenia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Norway, Russia, the Netherlands, Croatia, Lithuania, and Malta.
Details in IPN!
