Parliamentary factions disagree on Legislature's work in spring session

The MPs leave for vacation till the end of August. On Friday, uttering speeches on the occasion of closing the session, the faction leaders expressed colliding opinions concerning the work of the Parliament during this period. Neither have they avoided to blame one another, Info-Prim Neo reports. [The President of the Parliament , Marian Lupu,] has pointed out as attainments the adoptions of a row of new laws envisaging the socio-economic and the judiciary sectors and the continuation of promoting the democratic values. The speaker has said soon the process of considering laws will get a new component – the evaluation of the law's impact. Concerning the diplomatic sphere, Marian Lupu has remarked the EU assistance in the Twinning Project for the first time in Moldova, the Bill on supporting Moldova's European integration by the German Bundestag, Moldova's ascending relations with the Council of Europe, as recently the PACE president visited the country. Marian Lupu has urged the MPs to display balance, respect and responsibility till the end of the current mandate. “This moment is especially important to be set as an example to our colleagues from the Gagauz People's Assembly,” he said. [The leader of the majority Communist faction, Eugenia Ostapciuc,] has concluded the Parliament managed to cope with the task of legally insuring the development of the country, despite harsh social-economic conditions, starting from the artificial ban on exporting wines to Russia and ending with the last year drought. “In these conditions, insuring the stable development of economy and, on that basis, enhancing the life quality of the population, enhancing Moldova's authority on the world arena are but some of the arguments proving the efficiency of the activity of Communists Party, in power, the high productivity of the parliament's majority's work,” Eugenia Ostapciuc said. In terms of negative trends of the session, the PCRM faction leader mentioned that “some MPs manifested populist moods.” “Some colleagues of ours, representatives of opposition factions speak from microphones bout the need to immediate increase the pensions, salaries, indemnities, etc., but they are not interested that these hikes do not match the possibilities of the budget,” Eugenia Ostapciuc said. She called this attitude “a classical example of cynicism, a political trick, which has a single goal – to gain dividends at the coming parliamentary elections.” According to the MP, the opposition tries to involve the Parliament in the electoral race much earlier than due. “During this session, we have often been shocked by the blames and “discoveries” of some parliamentary groups, which try to annihilate one another in bucking for power,” Ostapciuc said. “The opposition (MPs) have a common topic they are ready to get together around – the primitive anti-Communism.” “Gentlemen, are you not tired of endlessly repeating the same, can't your intellectual potential allow you to invent something new, apart from these anti-Communist cliches as old as 15-20 years?” Ostapciuc asked herself. [The president of Moldova Noastra Alliance, Serafim Urecheanu,] has stated that the first half of 2008 has had the most negative connotations since the beginning of the current legislative body. “Because of the general inefficiency of the present authorities, but also of their policy undermining the European vector, Moldova entered a stage of obvious regress, both internally and externally,” the AMN leader said. According to him, the parliamentary majority has ignored the citizens' needs for the sake of the interests of the groupings protected by the government. In AMN's opinion, this is the reason why the messages of the European structures become more and more explicit and stress the lack of effect, on the poor implementation of reforms. “Being the member-country of the CoE with the longest term of being monitored, the irresponsible leaders of PCRM and PPCD defy this organization, ignoring its recommendations. The electoral majority has set barriers against the right of political and pre-electoral association, raised the electoral threshold (to enter parliament) to 6%, restricting the citizens' right to be represented, has discriminated the holders of dual citizenship, it instituted earlier itself absolutely unreasonably,” Urecheanu said. Mentioning the bad points, Serafim Urecheanu has pointed out distributing boons from the state budget to local authorities according to political criteria, the attacks on media disloyal to the government, the propaganda and denigrating activity of media appropriated and used by the government for political purposes, harassing some young men who criticized the Communists on web forums, restricting the judges' immunity, refusing to seriously fight corruption, drug and human being trafficking under the protection of law-enforcement bodies. [The president of the Democratic Party faction din Moldova, Dumitru Diacov,] has stated many laws were passed during the ending session, but they lack quality. According to the PDM leader, many drafts from the opposition still lie in the Parliament's drawers, including the draft on the teachers' status. As failures, Dumitru Diacov has mentioned the increase of the electoral threshold and the interdiction of electoral blocs. “We are affected by this issue because it was included on the list of obligations assumed by the President and the majority faction when voting for the head of the state,” he said. Dumitru Diacov has expressed hope the Parliament will change the Constitution next fall to un-politicize the position of President of the Moldova. According to the PDM leader, the refusal of the Constitutional Court to accept those modifications demonstrated this institution is engaged for the authorities. The PDM president has said the issue of the opposition political parties' access to media, and to the public TV first, has not been solved. [The president of the People's Christian-Democratic Party (PPCD) faction, Vlad Cubreacov,] has said the merit of the present Parliament consists in maintaining the political stability which has allowed for the normal functioning of the state institutions. “Our Legislature has adopted an important number of acts insuring the harmonization of the national legal framework and the European standards. We have new legislation envisaging the independence of justice, the activity of religious cults, the activity and financing of political parties, the broadcasting, the Court of Accounts, the Central Electoral Commission and the freedom of assembly,” Vlad Cubreacov stated. As reforms to be realized he has mentioned “the role, place and functions of the prosecutor's office in a democratic state, strengthening the independence of the judiciary and the autonomy of the local authorities, insuring the freedom of expression, implicitly by financing media from local budgets, insuring a real protection of the fundamental human rights and freedoms.” Neither Vlad Cubreacov has avoided to launch critics against colleagues. “We cannot remain indifferent towards the actions of some political provocateurs, who term themselves as defenders of national and democratic values, but in fact are tools engaged for the Kremlin's imperial interests. These adventurers namely, hired with big money, stir spirits and seek to overthrow the political balance to make the country even more vulnerable in front of Moscow's pressures. They are also making friends with the separatists and the spoiled of the boulevard press bought with dirty money from fraudulent privatizations, smuggling and other occult sources from abroad,” Cubreacov stated.