The Committee for economy, budget and finance chairman, Igor Munteanu, presented today an activity report for the June 18 -November 6 period. Asked by journalists whether the presentation of this report implies his departure from the Committee chair seat, Igor Munteanu said that "a radical configuration of all committees will take place, which won't give him the chance to resign". In his opinion, "a repartition of parliamentary committees is taking place and the Committee for economy, budget and finance will be taken over by another political group".
In a press conference, the MP said that, over the course of five months of activity, the Parliamentary Committee for economy, budget and finance has honorably fulfilled its duties defined by regulations. The Committee promptly responded to the initiatives of the Sandu government and to MPs who introduced bills which fell within the jurisdiction of the Committee.
Igor Munteanu said that the decision to eliminate the duty-free shops in the Transnistrian region was essential to combat industrial scale smuggling and illegalities. "I have supported the fiscal policy of the Sandu government as a precondition for foreign assistance for the Republic of Moldova, even though we have had many heated debates on these topics. I envisaged my mission as Committee chair to support a European government in Moldova, as to have the necessary political support in order to build a state free of corruption and monopolies, a state oriented towards the development of a favorable business environment", said the MP.
In addition to public consultations on a range of projects, Igor Munteanu said that on October 10, the results of an investigation launched by the Committee for economy, budget and finance on the situation of the walnut market were presented. "We detected a series of concerted actions of state structures, the existence of fraudulent schemes, document falsifications and cases of tax evasion, aimed at monopolizing the walnut market by manipulating control bodies and favoring politically affiliated companies. At the end of October, we obtained the resolution of this issue, calling to account the main companies in this sector, so that the purchase prices returned to the level of prices from 2016. However, I took notice that, one week after the fall of the Sandu government, the walnut market returned exactly to the same state of affairs that existed before the crisis was resolved", said the MP.
Igor Munteanu added that probably the most visible involvement in the last months was the one related to the parliamentary inquiry regarding the legalization of the privatization and concession of some public properties during the 2015-2019 period, namely the reports on the concession of Chișinău International Airport, the privatization of "Air Moldova" and other state-owned enterprises.
"Our struggle continues and the experience of the first five months of legislative activity has given us a better perspective on the common purpose", said the parliamentarian.
