Moldovan speaker, Gagauz governor approach special status of Gagauzia

Chisinau, 1 April /MOLDPRES/- Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu and new Governor of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia Irina Vlah have agreed on creation of a working group for considering the special status of Gagauzia, at their first meeting, the parliament's communication and public relations department has reported.

The working group will be made up of Moldovan and Gagauzian MPs. The lawmakers will assess the level of enforcement of constitutional provisions related to the special status of the autonomy, will consider the compatibility of the law on the special status of Gagauzia with the provisions of the Moldovan legislation, including the needed legislative amendments. A similar working group operated in the parliament of the previous convocation.

Candu congratulated Vlah for the victory in the elections of the governor of Gagauzia and assured that the parliament was interested in developing the dialogue with the autonomy's authorities for the benefit of all residents of Moldova.

"The election campaign is over and we enter a new stage of cooperation at all levels of state power with the Gagauz autonomy. All our efforts will be directed to ensure welfare of all citizens of Moldova", Andrian Candu stressed.

The officials also discussed the more active involvement of the authorities from the region in the modernisation of Moldova. The speaker said the EU Delegation and Council of Europe had expressed willingness to back a string of projects meant to speed up the region's development, so that the people from Gagauzia, like all Moldovans, should feel the benefits of getting closer to the EU.

Irina Vlah referred to the importance of organising courses for learning state language, so that the Gagauz residents should fully involve in the country's public life. "A problem of the Gagauz people is the lack of knowledge of the state language, and our young people are able and have sufficient qualities to work both in the Moldovan parliament and in government, as well as in other state institutions. It is important that the central power backs this request of ours", the official said.

At the same time, Vlah announced that the MPs of the regional Popular Assembly had sent two legislative initiatives to the parliament. The first one refers to earmarking 5 per cent of the financial sources of the road fund and 5 per cent of allocations for financing capital construction to Gagauzia. The second initiative is focused on providing certain facilitations to local farmers on export of products.

Irina Vlah has been MP since 2005. After the elections held on 22 March 2015, she is governor of Gagauzia, respectively, government member.

 (Editor L. Alcaza)