The investing of the Filip Government, protests, direct presidential elections after a period of about 20 years and other events marked the year 2016. At yearend, IPN News Agency presents the most important events of each of the 12 months of the year.
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Key event of June: Sentencing of Vlad Filat to nine years in jail.
On June 2, the Transnistrian conflict settlement talks in the 5+2 format were resumed after a hiatus of two years. The working agenda included subjects discussed within the dialogue platforms between Chisinau and Tiraspol. The 5+2 format of the talks includes Chisinau and Tiraspol, Russia, Ukraine and OSCE as mediators, and the U.S. and the EU as observers. The last round of talks in the 5+2 format was then held in Vienna in June 2014.
On June 2, the four members of a SMURD team died when their helicopter exploded in the air and fell down in Cantemir district. The helicopter was heading for Cahul to take a patient. The woman and three men were all carbonized. The accident occurred amid torrential rain and poor visibility. The next day, President Nicolae Timofti signed a decree whereby June 3 was declared a national mourning day in memory of the SMURD team. The crew members were awarded the Oder of the Republic posthumously, in gratitude and recognition for the irreproachable service and for courage, boldness and sacrifice shown when saving people’s lives in emergencies. After the incident, the Romanian authorities decided to suspend the work of the SMURD teams in Moldova and Romania. The families of the team members received 1 million lei in assistance from the Government of Moldova.
On June 3, the Baccalaureate session 2016 started. The exams were taken in 102 Baccalaureate centers, 30 of which were located in Chisinau municipality. The session involved 21,524 students, 24.35% of whom were candidates who failed the exams the previous sessions. The exam pass rate was 62%, while the average grade was 6.7.
On June 8, the Ministry of Economy and Gas Natural Fenosa in Moldova signed an arrangement on the regularization of the recovery of tariff deviations sustained as a result of the non-adjustment of the electric power tariffs in 2012 – 2015. The sides agreed that the recovery period will start on January 1, 2017 and will last until 2020. At that moment, the tariff deviations, adjusted to the interest rate, totalled about 1.75 billion lei. The deviations will be recovered through the power distribution and supply tariffs that will be calculated and adjusted annually so as to fully recover the main debt during the agreed period, at an interest rate of 7.66% a year.
In a sitting on June 9, Parliament adopted the 2016 draft state budget law in the first and second readings. The budget provided for incomes of 48.5 billion lei and a total expenditure of 52.7 billion lei, with a deficit of 4.2 billion lei. The deficit was to be covered mainly with external financing and with internal financial resources earned from privatization.
Also on June 9, President Nicolae Timofti signed decrees to grant Moldovan nationality to the ex-President of Romania Traian Basescu and his wife. The two swore an oath of allegiance to Moldova on November 3.
The torrential rain of June 13 caused havoc in Ceadar-Lunga town. Over 100 private homes were flooded, while dozens of persons were evacuated from their houses. These were lodged at relatives and at a local medical center. In some of the yards, the level of water rose to over 1 meter. The rain caused walls of five houses made of clay to fall. Two of these were uninhabited. The rainstorm also affected over 200 hectares of crops and damaged local roads on a distance of about 22 km. Three days later, the Government decided to allocate over 2 million lei in assistance to the victims.
On June 17, the three laws of the so-called integrity package, concerning the reformation of the National Integrity Commission and declaration of property, were passed by a majority of votes of MP in the final reading. The laws are aimed at ensuring the independence of the National Integrity Commission, which is to be reorganized into the National Integrity Center. This will have 30 integrity inspectors. The given laws include the Law on the Declaration of Property and Personal Interests, which envisions the submission of relevant statements online.
On June 18, Viorel Cibotaru was elected chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova instead of Vlad Filat, who was prosecuted for passive corruption and influence peddling. The new leader said his priorities as chairman of the party include the reformation of the PLDM and strengthening of the party’s capacities.
Also on June 18, Parliament passed the 2016 budgetary-fiscal policy in the last reading. A series of provisions were excluded from the initial document such as the rise in land tax and import duties on cars. It was decided to give up increasing the price of vignette. The tax on motor vehicles was also excluded. The MPs agreed to introduce a new property tax. Thus, those who possess houses that are over 120 square meters in area and whose cadastral value exceeds 1.5 million lei will pay a tax of 0.8% of the price of the dwelling.
On June 22, after a pause of two years, the Joint Commission for European Integration between the Parliament Romania and the Parliament of Moldova met in Chisinau. The meeting discussed the implementation level of the Association Agreement with the EU, parliamentary cooperation projects and projects of support on the part of the Parliament of Romania.
One June 22, Mayor of Orhei town and ex-chairman of the Administration Board of Banca de Economii Ilan Shor was arrested for 72 hours within a criminal case started over banking fraud, namely swindle and money laundering. Later the judges issued a warrant for the arrest of Ilan Shor for 30 days. Since August 5, Ilan Shor has been under house arrest.
On June 27, ex-head of the staff of the Communist parliamentary group Alina Russu was chosen as the new president of the Central Election Commission. Russu’s opponent Maxim Lebedinschi gained one vote. The new composition of the Central Election Commission was confirmed by Parliament on June 17, after the terms in office of the previous Commission member expired.
Also on June 27, Ex-Prime Minister Vlad Filat got nine years in jail for influence peddling and passive corruption. The judgment was passed after eight months of remand detention. The politician was also fined 60,000 lei and banned from holding public posts for a five-year period. He was deprived of all the awards conferred on him by presidential decree. A part of his property, including vehicles, a building and shares in a number of companies, was confiscated. Both the prosecution and the defense expressed their dissatisfaction with the punishment. The prosecutors initially demanded 19 years in jail for the ex-Premier, while the lawyers asked that this should be acquitted. Vlad Filat was deprived of parliamentary immunity in October 2015 and was arrested in Parliament following a self-denouncing statement made by the mayor of Orhei Ilan Shor, who said that he offered US$250 million bribe to the ex-Premier for particular services when this was Prime Minister. The Appeals Court upheld the sentence passed by the Buiucani Court. Filat’s lawyers said they will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Selection by Anastasia Rusu, IPN
