Moldovan civil society backs PM's anti-corruption initiatives

Chisinau, 16 May /MOLDPRES/- Following an invitation by Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici, representatives of the civil society discussed the anti-corruption initiatives on 15 May, the government's communication and media relations department has reported.

The premier pointed out the government's activity priorities - national unity, law supremacy and sustainable economy. Especially, Gaburici referred to the anti-corruption initiatives, describing them as necessary to register progress in meeting the important goals.

Gaburici noted he wanted to know suggestions and opinions of representatives of civil society, as well as he relied on their support in order to find best ways to fight this scourge.

Among the main anti-corruption initiatives, launched by the premier, were the following:

- urgently promoting a draft law on prosecution, which includes a string of new provisions, including election of a prosecutor general through public contest and his appointment by president, to reduce the risk of political pressure and subordination,

- excluding the immunities for all, especially, the administrative ones,

- transparency of control institutions' activity (CNI, CNA, Police and other supervisory bodies) and reducing influence of politics on them, including by appointing heads of these institutions under a public competition, with a regulation publicly consulted and approved by a commission with the participation of civil society and development partners, having transparent criteria for candidates, transmitting interviews online and more preselection stages,

- creating an anti-corruption committee -  monitoring and advisory authority, meant to monthly hear reports of CNA, Interior Ministry, Customs Service and other institutions, in order to set observance of commitments and plans on fight against corruption, to analyse gaps and proposals for adjustment. The participants in the dialogue expressed willingness to be part of this committee,

- creating two new institutions: the first one should be set up within CNA and deal with high corruption, and the second one should be meant to recover the damage caused by illegal enrichment or corruption.

Reducing the number of authorizations was also tackled. The premier said that there were examples fitted into the international reports, when 27 documents are needed to initiate the construction of a house, and it was planned to reduce to 9-10. The premier noted that the same thing was also referring to controls carried out by the state institutions.

Another issue was related to speeding up the implementation of e-government programme, meant to diminish direct interaction between the official and citizen, as well as to exclude risks of corruption.

Gaburici stressed that to successfully meet the set goals, the most important was the support from society. "I am ready to take responsibility, when needed, but we have to know that the society backs us and we are going in the right direction", he said.

For their part, the representatives of non-governmental sector appreciated the premier's anti-corruption initiatives, and at the same time, they found that the society expects to punish those who caused the crisis in the banking system. They were willing to contribute to meeting the goals.

"We support your initiatives and we are willing to contribute to their fulfilment", the director of the Public Policies Institute, Arcadie Barbarosie, said.

The participants in the public discussions believe that the implementation of anti-corruption initiatives would be possible, if Gaburici would enjoy the political support.

They agreed on re-launch of activity of National Participatory Council under government and decided that such meetings should be organised regularly and on concrete topics.

(Editor M. Jantovan)