Top of 2014 political events by MOLDPRES news agency

I. Moldova signed the Association Agreement with the European Union on 27 June 2014. A few days later, the document was ratified by the Moldovan parliament with the vote of 59 MPs. The more EU parliaments did the same. Thus, the Association Agreement has been ratified by 12 EU states so far. The procedure is to be carried out by all the 28 member states, so that the document fully enters into force. The European Parliament also approved the decision on ratification of the agreement with Moldova on 13 November 2014. Yet, before this thing happened, the accord had entered into force temporary in early past September, which means that over 80 per cent of the document’s provisions started being implemented. 

II. 30 November parliamentary polls. Over 3.2 million citizens were expected to participate in the parliamentary elections of 30 November at the about 2,000 polling stations. The voters had to choose between 24 registered contenders – 19 political parties, one electoral block and four independent candidates. A political party was excluded from the electoral race one day before the polls, under a decision by the Chisinau Court of Appeal. According to the gained results, the Party of Socialists (PSRM) got most MP mandates – 25. It is followed by the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) with 23 mandates and Party of Communists (PCRM) with 21 mandates. The Democratic Party (PDM) got 19 mandates and Liberal Party (PL) – 13. As much as 57.28 per cent of persons included in the electoral lists participated in the voting. The Constitutional Court validated the polls’ results on 9 December. On next day, the Leanca government announced its resignation. After the partial results of elections had been announced, PLDM, PDM and PL, having 55 mandates together, informed that they would negotiate the creation of a new ruling coalition. The new parliament is to convene a meeting till 30 December 2014. 

III. Moldova got visa free regime with the European Union. On 28 April 2014, first Moldovans could travel to EU states only on the basis of the bio-metric passport, without any visa as before. Thus, Moldova became the first Eastern Partnership state to get the visa regime liberalisation with EU. 

IV. The 2014 electoral year was marked by important moves on the political stage. In mid last February, Democrat Valeriu Guma gave up the MP mandate. A few months later, Communist MP Marc Tkaciuk did the same thing. Lawmaker Iurie Bolboceanu left the PDM fraction in past March. In June 2014, the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) withdrew its political support provided to Environment Minister Gheorghe Salaru. He was replaced by Valentina Tapis. Economics Minister Valeriu Lazar left the post in early past July and Democrat MP Andrian Candu took over the office. Vitalie Marinuta resigned from the post of defence minister. Subsequently, Valeriu Troenco was the one to get the office. Meanwhile, Marinuta informed that he joined PDM. Youth and Sports Minister Octavian Bodisteanu, appointed to the post by PLR, also joined PDM. 

V. The parliament rejected the motion of censure against the government's work and another two simple motions. The parliament examined the no confidence vote on 3 April. It was submitted by the opposition PCRM parliamentary faction, that was discontented with Moldova joining the sanctions imposed by EU to Ukrainian and Russian citizens. This was the fourth motion of censure against the government led by Iurie Leanca. During this year, the parliament also rejected two simple motions against Interior Minister Dorin Recean and Education Minister Maia Sandu. 

VI. The cabinet of ministers led by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca took political responsibility before the parliament on more draft laws, which the parliament has failed to adopt. The government resorted to this procedure, provided for in the Constitution, twice in almost two months. The first packet of laws, on which the cabinet took responsibility, was unveiled to the MPs on 22 July 2014. Among the drafts included in the packet, there are the ones on limiting the immunity of judges, liquidation of the Bender-based Court of Appeal, amending the state budget law for this year, ensuring transparency in the financial and banking sector and work of the national single system for emergency calls. 

The government repeated the procedure on 25 September. This time, the concerned drafts were focused on amendments to the state budget, possibility to import fuel oil, facilities in enforcing the legislation on excise duties on wine distillates and postponing the enforcement of ways of compulsory execution of the fiscal obligations for the producers of fruits, vegetables and grapes. No motion of censure was submitted after the government had taken political responsibility either in last July or September. Thus, the cabinet remained in office, and the drafts turned into laws. 

VII. Moldova for the first time ever participated in the NATO Summit, held in the United Kingdom in early last September. Some experts described the summit as one of the most important in NATO’s history. The crisis in Ukraine was among the subjects tackled at the event. Defence Minister Valeriu Troenco represented Moldova at the summit. 

VIII. The visits to Moldova by more officials from different states marked the 2014 year. European Commissioners Stefan Fule and Dacian Ciolos visited Moldova in last January. These visits were followed by the ones of Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was subsequently elected European Commission President. In last May, Herman Van Rompuy, in his capacity of European Council President, visited Chisinau and one month later, we were visited by Jose Manuel Barroso, who held the office of European Commission President. In 2014, more heads of state came to Chisinau, among whom Czech President Milos Zeman, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, Austrian President Heinz Fischer. 

The visits to Moldova by the foreign ministers of Finland, Norway, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Latvia, Canada, Greece, France, Germany, Sweden and Republic of Malta were not less important. More American senators, among whom John McCain, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Anne Brasseur also visited Moldova in 2014. The officials who came to Chisinau conveyed messages of support for the reforms started by the authorities and our country’s European integration. 

This year, Chisinau was also host to the Summit of Parliament Speakers of Baltic and Northern Countries, the ninth meeting of the European Action Group for Moldova and the 23rd meeting of the Coordination Council of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM).