Moldovan top court declares parliament decision on dismissal of energy regulator's directors unconstitutional

Chisinau, 8 December /MOLDPRES/ - The Constitutional Court (CC) today declared unconstitutional a 3 December parliament decision on abrogation of its own ruling concerning the appointment of four directors of the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) Board from 2013.

The authors of the notification, MPs Andrian Candu, Sergiu Sirbu and Stefan Creanga, consider that "the parliament exceeded the constitutional limits, thus defying the Fundamental Law. The decision's authors used a "juridical artifice" by the so-called abrogation of the acts on appointing, which represents a legal absurdity and an unlawful act." The ANRE directors "are holding the appointment for life, and the authority in charge of appointing is obliged to observe their independence, without any political pressure," the notification says.

"The vote was strictly political. The lawmakers who voted defied both the Constitution and the international commitments of Moldova in the energy sector," MP Sergiu Sirbu said at the CC session.

On 4 December, the Constitutional Court instructed to temporarily cease the effects of the parliament decision, under which four ANRE directors, whose mandates expire in 2019 and, respectively, 2020, were dismissed.  

The Moldovan parliament on 3 December abrogated, with the votes of 53 lawmakers out of 63 present in the session hall, its own decisions on appointment of four directors of the ANRE Board from 2013.    

The European Energy Community (EEC) described the parliament's ruling on abrogation of the 2013 decision on appointment of four ANRE directors as violation of the independence of the energy regulator. The parliament's actions discredit an institution, the powers of which and independence are of major importance for ensuring the performance and transparency of the country's energy sector, and even the commitments of reform taken by Moldova are thus brought into question, an ECC's press release said.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. jantovan)