Moldovan parliament votes Law on Government in first reading

Chisinau, 30 June /MOLDPRES/ – The Parliament voted the draft Law on the Government in its first reading today, although the document has been criticized by several Socialist, Communist and Liberal Democratic MPs.

The project was presented to the plenary by Director of the Reform Implementation Centre, Iurie Ciocan, who specified that the reform meant consolidation of the public administration authorities’ liabilities by improving their management and ensuring the delivery of public services’ quality.

According to the project, the post of Deputy Minister will be excluded from the reform, and the administrative duties on the activity of the ministries will be ensured by the state secretaries, who will, if necessary, fulfill the interim duties of the ministers.

The document voted in first reading describes the functions, powers, areas of activity of the Government and regulates the way of exercising the interim function of Prime Minister, first deputy Prime Minister, deputy Prime Minister and Minister. The Act further stipulates that following the reform of the Executive, the post of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs will be ruled out. Another amendment provides for the Prime Minister to be empowered to amend the list of ministries through a simplified procedure.

The project was criticized by the opposition, who denounced the fact that PM was given more powers. The Socialist faction demanded the Government change as the law has changed.

The first-reading document does not indicate the number of ministries that will be active as a result of the reform, nor the agencies, but earlier Prime Minister Pavel Filip had pointed out that the Government of Moldova intended to operate with nine ministries and 50 agencies since summer 2017.

At the end of the plenary meeting, Speaker Adrian Candu mentioned that the draft on Government was to be examined in final reading until the end of current session.

(Reporter A. Zara, editor L. Alcaza)