Draft law on the status of Chisinau municipality reduces local administration’s powers in a temporary majority’s favor. Info-Prim Neo interview with Mayor General of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca

[ - Mr Chirtoaca, the Government approved the draft law on the status of Chisinau municipality expected since earlier this decade and sent it to the Parliament for adoption. What do you think about its content?] - They try to reduce the powers of the City Hall and shift a number of executive powers to the Municipal Council. This runs counter to the principle of separation of powers in the state, respectively in the local public administration and confusion arises between the legislative and executive. [ - Government officials say the law was drafted in cooperation with the City Hall’s administration. Is it true?] - We have not received any proposal over the law on the status of the municipality of Chisinau recently. The law has been on the Government’s agenda for several years. Consultations might have been held earlier, before the 2007 local elections. But these consultations, aimed at introducing certain proposals submitted by the local administration, are formal because the draft law provides for the diminution of the local administration’s powers in favor of a temporary majority in the Council and the principle of organizing the activity of a mayor’s office is not taken account of. [ - How do you think, what powers should the City Hall and Council have?] - Under the Law on the Local Public Administration, the local executive and all the municipal agencies that provide services during a budgetary year should implement the decisions of the Municipal Council. But there are certain contradictions as the Law on the Local Public Administration and the law on the status of Chisinau municipality stipulate different things.