The deputy prime minister on social matters, the ministers, deputy ministers and agency heads designated by the Liberal Party (PL) vacated their seats on May 29. In a meeting on May 26, the PL’s National Council decided that the party will leave the government coalition and will join the opposition. Gheorghe Brega vacated the seat of deputy prime minister on social matters, Corina Fusu of minister of education, while Valeriu Munteanu of minister of environment. The deputy ministers of education, environment, and transport and road infrastructure, director of the State Agency on Intellectual Property, director of “Molsilva” Agency, director of Moldova’s Water Agency and others also vacated their posts.
Speaker of Parliament Andrian Candu, Prime Minister Pavel Filip and President Igor Dodon on May 29 had a joint meeting with heads of the embassies engaged in the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks in the 5+2 format. The meeting involved the ambassadors of Russia, Ukraine and the United States, the Head of the OSCE Mission and the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova. The foreign diplomats were presented a common view on the actions that are to be taken in the near future to ensure the positive dynamics of this process. There was reiterated the consolidated will of the Moldovan authorities to identify compromise solutions on the most pressing problems from the agenda of the negotiations, which was defined in the protocol of the Berlin meeting and agreed in the dialogue between Chisinau and Tiraspol.
The National Participation Council on May 29 started work in its new composition, with a two-year mandate. Head of the Resource Center for Human Rights Sergiu Ostaf, who is a member of the Council and formed part of the previous composition as well, said that this time again the Council will assume the role of monitoring public policies and strategies and the decisions taken by the state. For his part, Prime Minister Pavel Filip said the authorities want to have broader communication with civil society and exchange of opinions and more expertise with this.
Five Russian diplomats on May 29 were declared personas non grata in the Republic of Moldova on security-related grounds. In reaction, President Igor Dodon ordered to convene the Supreme Security Council, asking for reports from the director of the Security and Intelligence Service and the minister of foreign affairs. Two days later, on May 31, the Russian authorities declared five employees of Moldova’s embassy in Moscow personas non grata.
Deputy mayor of Chisinau municipality Nistor Grozavu was released from house arrest under judicial control. The Chisinau Appeals Court on May 30 accepted the appeal of the deputy mayor’s lawyers and quashed the decision of the ordinary court of law. The next day, Nistor Grozavu returned to work.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland paid an official visit to Moldova during May 30-31 at the invitation of Prime Minister Pavel Filip. The Premier noted that the expertise provided by the CoE is useful and indispensable in internal reformation, democratization and consolidation of Moldova’s European option. For his part, Thorbjorn Jagland said the organization he represents encourages the Government in its efforts to promote reforms. Thorbjorn Jagland took part in the launch of the second plan of action of the Council of Europe for the Republic of Moldova for 2017-2020. The document has three priority chapters that center on human rights, rule of law and democracy. The budget of the plan of action is of €17.8 million. The European Union allocated €3.7 million to Moldova through the bilateral common program with the Council of Europe.
The Government on May 31 named new deputy ministers following the withdrawal of the Liberals from government. Ion Apostol, who now heads the National Agency for Regulation of Nuclear and Radiological Activities, was appointed deputy minister of environment. Anatol Usatyi, who had worked for 15 years in the area of transport management, was named deputy minister of transport and road infrastructure. He is a bachelor of economy and international economic relations. Lilia Pogolsa took over as deputy minister of education. The Government also appointed Adrian Cazacu as director general of the Agency for Geology and Mineral Resources. The graduate of the Faculty of Law Vitalie Barsan was named as director general of the Agency for Material Reserves, while Lilia Bolocan as director general of the State Agency on Intellectual Property.
The Liberal Party on May 31 decided to withdraw the political support provided to deputy mayor of Chisinau municipality Nistor Grozavu, deputy minister of transport and road infrastructure Sergiu Bucataru and deputy minister of education Elena Cernei. The decision was taken by the party’s Political Bureau.
The prosecutors on May 31 announced that they completed the investigation into the rigging of tender contests to supply Chisinau kindergartens with food products that involved nine persons and sent the cases to court. Those accused include four public functionaries, who are employees of the Buiucani Division of Education, Youth and Sport, the Hancesti District Hospital and the Ministry of Defense, and representatives of business entities that took part in the contests. These are accused of passive corruption, active corruption, influence peddling, abuse of power and misuse of authority and were placed under judicial control.
The Socialist MPs on June 2 submitted a simple motion against Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Andrei Galbur following the rejection by Parliament of the Socialists’ proposal to question the minister about the decision to declare five Russian diplomats personas non grata. The same day, the parliamentary group of the Liberal Democratic Party initiated a no-confidence motion against the Filip Government amid the involvement, covering and lack of action in relation to the trafficking in anabolic steroids through Moldova’s Post Office. MP Grigore Cobzac called on the members of the Communist, Liberal and Socialist parliamentary groups to subscribe to the motion.
The Republic of Moldova, through its Permanent Representative at the OSCE Victor Osipov, subscribed to the EU statement on “Russia’s Ongoing Aggression against Ukraine and Illegal Occupation of Crimea”, which expresses serious concerns about the aggravation of the security situation in this conflict area and reiterates the condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol town and the fact that the Russian Federation supports the military actions of the separatists in Donbas. It happened in the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in which Victor Osipov took part as Moldova’s Permanent Representative for the first time.
The member of the European People’s faction in Parliament Iurie Leanca on June 2 was appointed as Deputy Speaker of the legislature, at the suggestion of Speaker Andrian Candu. In the same sitting, the MPs adopted a bill stipulating that the parliamentary factions consisting of at least five independent or unaffiliated MPs will have the same rights as a parliamentary group. The bill was drafted by the members of the European People’s faction.
Selection by Elena Nistor
