The national council for the reform of the legal system had its first working meeting on May 24. After the meeting, the council’s chairman Marian Lupu said that any bill referring to the reform of the legal system, which will be submitted by the Government, will go through the council as well, Info-Prim Neo reports. “We ascertained that Moldova does not have a strategy for reforming the legal system and the law enforcement bodies. What we did after 1991 in the given area included mainly sporadic actions rather than strategy elements. Thus, we decided to move along parallel ways. On the one hand, the Ministry of Justice and the bodies involved will work out a related strategy. In parallel, we will take important elements from the measures laid down in our joint government program,” said Marina Lupu. The Speaker also said that the state institutions and representatives of civil society suggested extending the council and their proposal was accepted. All the members of the council will submit proposals as to the functioning regulations of the council as well as the agenda and work program by the end of this week. “We will address the reform of justice in two packages. The first package will include the legal system, while the second – the police, the Ministry of the Interior, the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime, the Security and Information Center, and the Prosecutor General’s Office,” said Marian Lupu. The national council for the reform of the legal system was set up on May 19. The council will be a consultative body consisting of representatives of the local public authorities and civil society. It will coordinate public authorities' actions aimed at reforming the legal system, will monitor the initiatives regarding the work of the judiciary and present proposals over these initiatives. The council is headed by Marian Lupu. First Deputy Head of Parliament Vladimir Plahotniuc and Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim serve as deputy heads. The council includes two Opposition lawmakers, but they did not attend the first meeting. The Communist Party announced earlier that it will not take part in the council’s work.