A branch of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians against Corruption (GOPAC) will be set up in   Moldova, the Organization’s president John Glass Williams announced in a meeting with Speaker of Parliament Andrian Candu. According to the Parliament’s press service, the new body will develop the surveillance capacities of the institutions responsible for fighting corruption, IPN reports.

The GOPAC branch will provide assistance and will develop MPs’ capacities to effectively tackle corruption. “We welcome the Republic of Moldova’s initiative to join parliamentarians at international level in their efforts to fight corruption. GOPAC is a global network that brings together MPs from all over the world and can offer the MPs expertise in achieving the country’s anticorruption agenda,” stated John Glass Williams.

Andrian Candu said an anticorruption working group between Parliament and civil society was created to ensure the more active involvement of the NGO sector in the parliamentary work. The legislative body plays a very important role in working out legislation and mechanisms for fighting corruption, but must make sure that these mechanisms are functional through parliamentary control.

“Beginning with the adoption of the so-called integrity package, the MPs should also become more actively involved and should make use of the parliamentary control to make sure that the institutions responsible for fighting corruption and the Government do well their job for the people’s benefit,” stated Andrian Candu.

The anticorruption plan of action of Moldova’s Parliament stipulates over 60 initiatives that are to be adopted in 2016-2018, these being finalized by the commission on national security, defense and public order. The document includes specific actions aimed at preventing corruption and monitoring the fight against corruption, ensuring cooperation between Parliament and other institutions, strengthening the function of parliamentary control and ensuring transparency in parliamentary work.