Two political parties accuse Greceanai Government of lack of governance-related progress

100 days of the appointment of the new Government, Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanai on July 9 reported that during three months, the central public administration initiated a series of reforms in all the spheres and the first results are already evident. The Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and the Liberal Party (PL) of Moldova dispute the progress made and say that the executive lacks vision in administering the public affairs and solving the major problems faced by the society, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the statements made by the two parties. The two parties consider that owing to the absolute loyalty to the Communist government and to the modest economic performance, the present Government is incapable of making progress in implementing the central administration reform. PLDM says that after the Greceanai Government was appointed, the pressure on the local public administration began to mount. As a result of the last modifications introduced to the budget law for 2008, the additional budget resources were distributed only to districts and mayors’ offices that are governed by Communists and their allies. This way, the public money was shared out according to the principle of clientele. In the same connection, PL stressed that the public funds continue to be used non-transparently and inefficiently. The most serious case is the irresponsible and inappropriate use of the Government’s reserve fund for 2008. PL and PLDM say that the social-economic sphere witnessed most of the Greceanai Government’s failures. While the new Government has been in power, the prices have increased considerably, the level of investments in the national economy remained unchanged, the trade deficit has expanded, while the labor market still faces the serious consequences of advanced migration. The parties say that the economic policies promoted by the present Government show its incapacity to cope with the rising prices of the products of primary importance, while the monetary policy is used to obtain extra revenues to the budget by rapidly impoverishing the population. The privatizations planed by the Government lack transparency, while the way in which the most important companies will be privatized shows the same practices of protecting the political clientele to the detriment of people’s interests, being a continuation of the policy of exerting pressure on the business. PLDM and PL express their concerns about the fact that under the pressure of inflation, low salaries and consecutive economic failures, the number of socially-vulnerable categories of people has increased and the activity in education, social protection, healthcare and other sectors is seriously affected. According to the parties, the lack of policies aimed at reducing poverty, the lack of social dialogue and of adequate measures to solve the social problems made the people take to the streets. The protesters included people from different social groups: entrepreneurs, farmers, carriers, pensioners. The parties say that the Greceanai Government failed to establish cooperation relations with the neighboring countries, especially by postponing the dialogue with the EU member, Romania, and by non taking part in the GUAM Summit. The parties consider that no headway was made with the Transnistria conflict settlement talks and the new executive proposed no concrete solutions for solving the dispute. The Greceanai Government is also accused of not strengthening the democratic institutions in Moldova. The two parties say that the Government did not make improvements in such areas as freedom of the media, human rights, the state of law, the quality and independence of the legal system etc. According to PLDM and PL, the new executive is now more hermetic than the previous one. “We do not implement reforms for the sake of reforms,” Prime Minister Zinaida Grecianyi said at the conference held to mark 100 days of the appointment of the new Government. According to her, the major achievement in this period was the internal reorganization and restructuring of the executive. Zinaida Greceanai assured the mass media representatives that the positive effects of the changes made will become obvious after all the newly formed bodies are consolidated.