print version

During the past six sessions of the current year, the deputies have examined seriously several projects bearing an electoral subtext and have been indifferent towards the projects that do not arouse the general interest at the moment. During the December 16 session, the deputies discussed several drafts of major importance. The most ardent discussions were held on the draft of the strategy of fighting corruption and on the report of investigation commission that verified the information regarding the real estate of the PPCD leader Iurie Rosca.

I. National strategy of prevention and fighting corruption and the Action Plan for implementing the strategy

ADEPT Comment: The act adopted by the Parliament contains a series of findings and appreciations of the existing situation in the relevant field. Political, economic and social transition from the period of the declaration of independence is considered one of the general causes of the corruption.

Corruption is considered a complex, multi-structural and multi-dimensional phenomenon whose complexity is determined by different causes: economic, institutional, legal, political, social and moral.

The economic causes reside in the increased cost of living with a continuously growing tendency; degradation of economy and impoverishment of the population; low salaries of the public servants; an unviable state budget; over-regulation of the private sector.

The institutional causes include the deficient personnel policy which generates the search for methods of illegal income; promotion of incompetent persons to the responsible posts; lack of transparency in the activity of central and local public administration; excessive freedom given to the decision-makers; reduced possibility for disclosure the corrupt persons; insufficient technical endowment of legal institutions; lack of human and logistic resources, and efficient tactics.

Legal causes include several imperfections in legislation, as well as the lack of efficient mechanisms for its implementation.

Social and moral causes are related to the traditions, mentality, and culture and include the disintegration and demoralization of the society; erosion of ethical values; insufficient information of the civil society; civic apathy; public tolerance; social polarization; dependent mass media.

Political causes include the lack of will and political accountability; existence of internal and external factors that impose the group interests in decision-making; unsettlement of the problem of the eastern districts; errors in the process of implementing the economic and social reform; disloyal political competition; trafficking in influence upon mass media.

The declared objectives of the Strategy are:

• provision of law supremacy;
• provision of the independence of the state authority branches and the prevention of corruption in each of them;
• perfection of legal framework according to the requirements of international legislation;
• provision of transparency in the activities of public institutions, access to information, promotion of ethic standards;
• stimulation of the civil society and private sector in the prevention of corruption; creation of an atmosphere of intolerance towards the corruption phenomenon.

The Strategy suggests a number of measures for the prevention and fighting against corruption:

• suppression of corruption by applying efficient criminal norms;
• prevention of corruption through the elimination of the opportunities for corruption from the systems and procedures of the public institutions;
• education of all the segments of population in the spirit of intolerance towards corruption and the development of citizens' active support in the prevention and suppression of corruption.

One also suggests perfection of the legal framework; efficiency of the institutional system; provision of transparency and accountability in the political activity; diminution of the corruption effects upon the private sector and intensification of the cooperation of public institutions with the civil society.

The deputies have also adopted an action plan for the implementation of the strategy, which contains several chapters regarding the established goals and the mechanisms that are going to be implemented.

The deputies from the opposition qualified the adoption of the strategy as a pre-electoral idea because the document contains declarative provisions and is not subject to adequate international examinations. In response the authors informed that the Strategy has been examined by the Council of Europe and other specialized bodies and has been discussed during several conferences, as well as national and international round tables.

The opposition factions also solicited that before the adoption of a new document, the information about the implementation of the previously approved documents be presented because legal and governmental acts in the field are approved practically every year but their effect is not reduced.

As the strategy has a complex content, detailed information will be provided further.

ADEPT Information: The Parliament, the Government and the President of Moldova issued previously several acts regarding the concentration of the efforts in fighting corruption and related phenomena. In this context it should be mentioned:

Parliament decision 518/07.07.95 about the formation of a special Commission that exercises control upon the execution of legislation regarding the fighting against corruption.

Law 900/27.06.96, regarding the fighting against corruption and protectionism.

President's decree No.57 from 28.05.2001 regarding the creation of Coordinating Council for the suppression of corruption and crime.

Government decision 898/03.08.2004 regarding the approval of Action Plan for the efficiency of the interaction and collaboration of legal and control institutions in fighting against crime and corruption.

Government decision 1377/18.11.2003 regarding the approval of the Plan of measures for fighting corruption and provision of the law supremacy.

Government decision 1017/04.11.99 regarding the State Program about the fighting against crime, corruption and protectionism for years 1999-2002 and about the fulfillment of the decision of the Parliament "regarding the activity of General Prosecution Office and Ministry of Internal Affairs in fighting organized crime and corruption".

Government decision 199/02.04.96 regarding the measures of fighting corruption, protectionism and organized crime.

Government decision 780/14.03.96 regarding several measures for fighting corruption and protectionism.

II. Law on the Revision and Optimization of the Normative Framework for the Regulation of the Business Activity

ADEPT Comment: The respective law, also known as "economic guillotine", is aimed to establish the principles and activities necessary for the revision of the legal framework in order to eliminate and avoid the regulations which do not correspond to legislation and are not market-oriented, as well as to assure the stability and quality of the regulations regarding business activity in order to avoid the barriers in the business environment.

The adopted legislative act establishes the main principles of revising and optimizing the normative framework, which regulates the business activity:

• Transparency and stability of the regulations governing business activity;
• Presumption of observing the legal acts by the business agents;
• Treatment in favor of business agents of doubts appeared when applying the legislation regarding the business activity;
• noninvolvement in business activity, including the non-admittance of suspending the business activities, except the express cases regulated by the law;
• delimitation of regulatory, control and inspection state functions of the administrative authorities from the functions of rendering services of assessing the conformity and other paid services;
• Non-admittance of establishing and collecting by public administrative authorities of other payments for services of issuing licenses, authorizations and other documents regarding the business activity, except the express established payments;
• Non-admittance of establishing and requesting other documents for issuing the licenses, authorizations and other documents regarding the business activity except the express and exhaustively established documents.

III. Law on Providing Facilities for the Employees in the Field of Culture and Art

ADEPT Comment: Through the adopted law, the Parliament decided that the employees in the fields of culture and arts with special merits in the creation and promotion of national values, who have at least 20-year work experience in the field, could benefit from an indemnity ranging from 300 to 500 Lei per month. The indemnity will be established by the Government at the proposal of the Ministry of Culture, with the consultation of creative unions.

It was also established that some categories of creative workers (professional dancers, chorines, circus artists) with a work experience in the respective field of 20 years will have the right to pension for a work experience calculated as 40 percent from the monthly average salary of the last five years of activity until they reach the general retirement age (57 for women and 62 for men).

IV. Law on Creating Facilities for Young Teachers

ADEPT Comment: Through the adopted law was established that the graduates of the higher education and vocational institutions, who get employed upon distribution in the education institutions from rural areas, will benefit from:

• one-time indemnity: for the graduates of the higher education institutions (30.000 Lei); for the college graduates (24.000 Lei) with their three-year distribution of activity in the education institutions from rural areas;
• 20 percent increase in the wages for the young specialists from education field, employed in rural areas;
• monthly compensation of the cost for 30 kWt of electric power, one square meter of firewood and one ton of coal.

The facilities will be provided based on an agreement that the graduate will sign with the Ministry of Education. In case the agreement is cancelled before 3 years, the amount paid as an additional indemnity shall be reimbursed to the budget.