Moldovan government holds meeting

Chisinau, 23 September /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Ion Chicu today chaired a cabinet meeting, with 36 drafts included on the agenda, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  

In the beginning of the meeting, the PM welcomed the appointment of Daniela Cujba as state secretary at the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry.  Chicu noted that the experience in the European integration field represented an advantage for Moldova’s European integration.  

The cabinet gave a positive note to the draft on the approval of the list of students from the higher education institutions and pupils from post-secondary vocational education institutions – 15 in all, who will be provided the scholarship of Moldova’s President, as well as a list of those 62 candidates who will receive merit scholarships for the 2020-2021 academic year. The draft’s goal is to back young people’s academic performances, their involvement in the settlement of the state’s social and economic problems.

At the meeting, the government approved the starting of negotiations and approving the signing of the Addendum No 1 to the agreement on financing between the Moldovan government and the European Union on the development of rural zones from Moldova, signed in Chisinau on 21 July 2017. The agreement envisages the providing of a grant worth 63.831 million euros. The Addendum’s goal is to extend the term of accord’s operational implementation by 12 months.     

Also today, the cabinet ruled to initiate talks and approve the signing of the agreement between the Moldovan government and the European Commission on the carrying out of the project, EU4Moldova: Facility to support the health response to the COVID crisis and Association Agreement related Reforms. The project provides for the offering of non-refundable assistance worth nine million euros.  

The cabinet of ministers approved regulation on the procedure of recognizing groups of farmers. The regulation sees the benefiting by the recognized groups of farmers from non-refundable financial assistance on behalf of the state during five years beginning with the moment of recognition. Also, Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Minister Ion Perju informed about the evolution of the payment of compensations to farmers. He said that 260 million lei out of the overall sum of 300 million lei had been paid.

Education, Culture and Research Minister Igor Sarov unveiled for approval a draft government decision, which provides for the endowment of general education institutions with 150 desktop computers. They were donated by South Korea, based on a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the information services sector. This year, the government allocated over 20 million lei for purchasing the technical equipment needed in schools. At the same time, due to the support of foreign partners, another 11,500 information technology units are to be received.     

„The supply of education institutions with information technology, in the context of the pandemic and organizing the distance education process, becomes a priority of the government. I learned that, last time, computers were bought in 2009, within the SALT programme. This is the situation in which we entered the pandemic. The World Bank’s project will be extended, so that the schools’ endowment with technical equipment meets the needs,’’ Prime Minister Chicu said.  

The participants in the meeting approved a draft on the concept of governmental services of electronic payments (MPay). It will contribute to the simplification of the procedure of payment of more bills, as well as to the modernization of public services.   

PM Ion Chicu stressed the importance of overcoming the situation after a 22 September ruling by the Constitutional Court (CCM) on the Constitution’s amendment in terms of the judicial system. ‘’After we received a positive opinion from the Council of Europe, Venice Commission, EU’s development partners, United States, we have got to impossibility to promote it further as it is agreed upon with the foreign partners. Justice Minister Fadei Nagacevschi is now in Strasbourg, in order to identify a solution as to how we should continue the justice reform. First of all, it is about the amendment of the Constitution; one of the unapproved articles deals with the limiting of the interference of the political factor with justice, including some powers of the Moldovan president. The High Court’s decisions cost us more than six billion lei,’’ Chicu said.    

Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister Serghei Puscuta noted that the early next October would have a major pressure on the state budget expenses. In the first week, the pensioners will receive their one-off allowances worth 900 lei, which amounts to 600 million lei in all. Also in this period, the state will fulfill its financial obligations to the public sector employees, with about 400 million lei necessary here. Additionally, over 680 million lei will be directed to the National Bank’s Fund, as a result of the state budget’s obligation to the National Bank, following the 2014 bank fraud.      

Photo source: Government