Government must give up its authoritative approach, non-communist district presidents urge

The Communist government must relinquish its authoritative ruling style, the Association of District Presidents and Councilors “Pro Europa” said in a concluding statement of its recent meeting in Chisinau. The members of the Association met to tackle the discriminatory attitude of the central authorities with respect to the local public administrations. They remarked, among others, that although two-thirds of the populace opted for democratic forces in last year’s local elections, the government has been obstructing valuable initiatives that come from the local authorities. They regretted that the invitations for the meeting sent to Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii and Local Public Administration Minister Valentin Guznac remained neglected. Previously, similar invitations addressed to the head of state and prime minister had repeatedly been left without an answer. Among the problems encountered by the local authorities are: the inadequate financial assistance to the districts governed by non-communist leaders; the unlawful creation by the Government of territorial agencies, unconstitutionally vested with excessive control powers; the inconsistent and belated information of the local authorities by the Government; and others. Also a handicap in the relationship between the central and local authorities is the Government’s tacit refusal to counsel the local administrations in the process of developing and enacting laws ruling the local government. The local decision-makers have many a time warned the country’s leadership about the inadmissible practice of making unilateral decisions by relevant government officials, who fail to pay heed to the suggestions of the local administrations, which is in sharp contradiction to the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. As a result, the 21 attending non-communist district presidents have agreed upon the necessity of reiterating their claims in hope that the country’s top leadership will respect the free and definite choice that the voters made last summer.