The Democratic Party’s initiative to amend the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and enshrine the European integration objective in it failed. The initiative garnered only 54 votes in favor at a time when a constitutional initiative is carried by the votes of 67 MPs. IPN reports
The bill was put to the vote at the beginning of the October 18 sitting of Parliament, before the adoption of the agenda. Speaker of Parliament Andrian Candu said this is an ‘overdue’ issue from the previous sitting, but the Liberal MPs asked for a break of 30 minutes.
Immediately after the break, the president of the Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu said the Liberal parliamentary group will not take part in the vote as this looks more like a show than a wish to make changes. They regret the fact that the parliamentary majority refuses to vote the introduction of the European course in the Constitution together with the amendment of Article 13 concerning the official language.
Liberal-Democratic MP Vadim Pistrinciuc said no discussions, working meetings, meetings between MPs were held during a week since the vote on the given initiative was postponed. The European integration refers to the citizens and institutions and the EU should not be mixed up with the Soviet Union. The government should return to the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU and, as long as this agreement is not respected, the Lib-Dems will not take part in the vote.
The leader of the Party of Communists Vladimir Voronin said neither the Communist group will take part in the vote as the enshrining of the European integration in the Constitution would further divide society.
Socialist MP Vlad Batrîncea said the introduction of the European integration objective in the Constitution will outlaw the parties with another geopolitical option and will undermine the guarantees concerning the freedom of expression.
Democratic MP Marian Lupu a noted the “European integration” that is to be included in the Constitution does not suggest integration into the EU, but proposes a political, economic and social development model. “It’s a pity that the so-called pro-European parties left the hall. The European integration is done not in Brussels and the EU member states, but here, in Moldova,” he stated.
“Regrettably, we will not have a historical vote in Parliament. We can find excuses as to why we do not vote this amendment, but I think we will regret more that we missed this occasion for taking a historical decision,” said Valeriu Giletski, the leader of the European People’s Group.
After the vote, Andrian Candu said the Liberal and Liberal-Democratic MPs by their gesture showed they decided to turn their back on the Europeans Union and the voters should take this into account.