Moldovan parliament, civil society to strengthen cooperation on European integration, reforms

Chisinau, 7 April /MOLDPRES/ - Strengthening cooperation between authorities and civil society in the implementation of the Association Agreement between Moldova and the European Union, including enhancing communication and efficiency of the partnerships with the NGOs' sector on speeding up reforms to modernise the country were the main conclusions of the participants to the Cooperation between the Parliament and Civil Society annual conference, the parliament's communication and public relations department has reported.

The event, now in its sixth edition, is organised by the Moldovan parliament in partnership with the National Council of NGOs of Moldova and with support of development partners. MPs, ministers, ambassadors, representatives of the civil society and development partners attended the meeting.

At the beginning of the conference, Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu and Deputy Parliament Speaker Liliana Palihovici greeted the participants at the event.

According to the parliament speaker, consolidation of the rule of law state, acceleration of Moldova's European integration process, including pressing ahead with reforms to modernise the country can be successful only with the active involvement of civil society. "The Strategy for Developing the Civil Society represents a basis for strengthening cooperation between the parliament and civil society, including via examining ways to improve the institutionalisation of cooperation mechanisms and the creation of a dedicated institutional cell, amending the parliament’s regulation and identifying room in the renovated parliament building, likely to be offered to civil society organisations in the long run," said Andrian Candu.

The parliament speaker spoke about his experience of cooperation with NGOs when he worked as a civil servant in the parliament’s secretariat, including through the important role the representatives of civil society had in promoting laws of interest for citizens, encouraging them to participate in an open and productive dialogue.

"Even if there is already a six-year tradition in organising this event, I propose to change the topic of the Conference, taking into account the recommendations of the Council of Europe concerning the legal status of NGOs, which stipulates that the existence and strengthening of civil society is not only an expression of a pluralist democracy, but also a need for a democratic and transparent governance", said the parliament. Thus, Andrian Candu proposed that, in the long run, the conference be held under the motto "Recognising and strengthening the role of civil society in the process of democratic development of the country." 

For her part, Deputy Parliament Speaker Liliana Palihovici appreciated the good cooperation between the parliament and civil society throughout 2014 and reconfirmed the parliament’s openness to develop dialogue with non-governmental organisations. "We see that things have changed and we have reached another stage, which should bring more efficiency and a much better communication in cooperation with civil society in the process of implementation of the Association Agreement. For this, we need active NGOs throughout the country, in order to expand the dialogue between authorities and civil society at all levels. Our cooperation will bring Moldova more benefits and contribute to developing the entire society", said Liliana Palihovici, who worked with civil society representatives in organising the event.

The leader of the PLDM parliamentary faction, Valeriu Strelet, referred to the need to involve civil society in decision-making process of all three branches of state power. The official welcomed the parliament speaker’s proposal to change the conference’s motto , suggesting the title "Partnership between the Parliament and Civil Society" in the context of strengthening democracy and the rule of law state in Moldova.

Representatives of the State Chancellery and civil society carried out a parallel evaluation of the Strategy for Developing the Civil Society 2012-2015 implementation process.

The president of the National Council of NGOs in Moldova, Ecaterina Mardarovici,  touched upon lessons learned in the process of cooperation between the civil society and the parliament. According to her, the basic principles of cooperation reside in ensuring transparency of the decision-making process and promoting participatory democracy. "My hope for the future is to transform the compulsoriness for public authorities to cooperate with civil society into a necessity, and its impact should be improvement of the citizens' living standards”, Ecaterina Mardarovici.

The participants in the conference also referred to the need to foster communication with committees and multiplying examples of good practice in the collaboration of authorities and civil society, including the implementation of the Strategy for Developing the Civil Society, improving the Concept of cooperation between the Moldovan parliament and civil society, as well as in the process of adopting legislation.

Civil society representatives tackled the importance of partnerships for a sustainable civil society in Moldova with Head of EU Delegation in Moldova Pirkka Tapiola, U.S. Ambassador James D. Pettit, Swedish Ambassador Ingrid Tersman, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Ambassador Philip Batson, Romanian Ambassador Marius Lazurca and UN Resident Coordinator Dafina Gercheva.

(Editor A. Raileanu)