The government is urged to honor its commitment to adopt the package of laws on the strengthening of public integrity, which was present in the Government’s agenda for two times, but was excluded from the final agendas. The bill provides for the incorporation of a number of public policies formulated during 12 years into one logical set.
In a news conference at IPN, head of the Anticorruption Alliance Olga Bytca said that the package of laws focuses on the prevention of corruption and ensuring of integrity in the public service and specifies the notion of public agent, which becomes all-embracing and covers particular categories of people from the public sphere who now avoid taking the professional integrity test, including judges.
Penalties are introduced for a number of irregularities, such as the violation of the incompatibility regime and the non-declaration of the conflict of interest when it already occurred. “There are now penalties only for the incorrect submission of the declaration of interests,” stated Olga Bytca.
Chairman of the National Participation Council Sergiu Ostaf said the instruments needed to fully use the public integrity regime are absent. The ball is in the yard of the Government, which should approve this bill and then submit it to Parliament for adoption as a matter of urgency, next week.
He also said that among the government’s commitments that must be immediately fulfilled is to ensure media ownership transparency by making amendments to the Broadcasting Code. The bill was remitted to Parliament last year and needs to be adopted in the final reading.
Sergiu Ostaf also spoke about the necessity of promoting transparency at public tender contests and in the process of privatizing public property. “Every time civil society underlines the necessity of ensuring authentic transparency in the sale and transfer of public property to the private sector. The bill to amend the law was brought in compliance with the international standards. It is appropriate, but its implementation on certain segments is defective,” he stated.
Program coordinator of the Center for Health Policies and Analyses Ghenadie Turcanu said the government coalition undertook tobacco control measures, but the adoption of the relevant package of laws is delayed by an industry that ‘kills’ – the tobacco industry, the Russian and Ukrainian factories that invaded Moldova with imported products. “They leave their countries and go to Moldova and Africa following the adoption of tobacco control legislation,” he stated, adding that over 1,900 people have died from diseases caused by smoking since February 5, when the anti-tobacco package was submitted to Parliament.
