New Moldovan defence minister sworn in office

Chisinau, 24 October /MOLDPRES/ - Eugen Sturza has been sworn in the office of defence minister. Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu, in his capacity of acting Moldovan president, today signed a decree on the appointment of Eugen Sturza to the position of defence minister. Subsequently, Sturza took the oath of allegiance.   

Speaker Andrian Candu congratulated Sturza on his appointment to office and wished him a successful mandate at the head of the Defence Ministry. “Moldova needs a government with functional ministries. The today’s appointment was carried out through a unique procedure, because of the refusal by the acting president, Igor Dodon. I hope that, by the today’s appointment, the institutional and constitutional crisis we have reached will stop and that such situations will not repeat and each state official will observe the law and the Constitution,” Candu said.   

For his part, Prime Minister Pavel Filip noted that he will give the minister every support in his new mandate. “I congratulate you on the appointment to post. Welcome to the governmental team. I am glad that the incertitude faced so far has ended. We are in a period of working out strategies at the Defence Ministry; therefore, the tasks are complex, especially as we want a professional and well-organized army,” Filip said.    

At the same time, new Defence Minister Eugen Sturza, after taking the oath, thanked his colleagues from the European People’s Party of Moldova (PPEM) and the ruling coalition for having put him forward for this position. “What happened today is a new situation for our country; therefore, I hope that, in the long run, the Constitution will not be infringed. I want Moldova to turn into a supplier of security. My priority is international cooperation with the foreign partners, participation in military exercises and that the army is not involved in political games. Also, we need endowment with equipment and weaponry, training servicemen, professionalizing the army through a deep reform and improving the social conditions for the military,” Sturza said. 

Eugen Sturza is bachelor of finance and worked in Moldova’s cabinet during 2009-2013. Sturza acted as adviser of the prime minister in the Filat government. Subsequently, he held the office of head of the office of the prime minister in the cabinet led by Iurie Leanca. Presently, Sturza is deputy leader of the European People’s Party of Moldova.  

On 12 September 2017, the prime minister put forward to the Moldovan head of state the candidacy of Eugen Sturza for the office of defence minister, turned down by the president. Subsequently, the prime minister put up the same candidature, repeatedly rejected by the head of state. Subsequently, the cabinet appealed to the Constitutional Court to clear up the actions which can be undertaken by the prime minister and the decisions which can be passed by parliament, if the president refuses the repeated proposal on appointment of a minister to office. Following the notification, the Court issued a note, thereby establishing that the parliament speaker or the prime minister can issue the decree on appointment of the defence minister and can receive his oath.      

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor M. Jantovan)