The National Employers Confederation of Moldova (NECM) said the Government didn’t consult the social partners before approving the three very important budgets for the business sector and for employees – the state budget, the state social insurance budget and the state health insurance budget. According to the Confederation, this way the government showed that they do not care about the opinions of civil society.

In a news conference at IPN, NECM chairman Leonid Cerescu said the absence of consultations over the three budgets is another proof that the government does not take into account the opinions of the representatives of taxpayers. At end-February, the Confederation staged a roundtable meeting that centered on the effects of the fluctuations on the currency market and the government avoided this event.

Leonid Cerescu noted that this attitude of the government is not normal and the NECM will warn the donor organizations that Moldova’s Government does not implement the EU recommendations concerning the improvement of the business climate in the country.

NECM deputy chairman Alexandru Slusari said the dialogue within the commission for collective consultations and negotiations, which includes the employers, trade unions and the government, is inefficient, but this time the Government decided not even to hold debates on the budgets, even if the law provides that the draft budgetary-fiscal policy must be endorsed by the tripartite commission.

Igor Crapivca, another deputy chairman of the Confederation, said the Gaburici Government made very serious mistakes. First of all it approved the budgets without consulting those for whom these budgets count. They did something for the people without asking the people. The second mistake is that they continue to agree survival budgets, not development ones. The third mistake is that greater pressure is exerted on the honest taxpayers by the approved budgets, without fighting the underground economy.

The Confederation’s executive director Dinu Armasu said the employers earlier worked out a set of anti-crisis measures and submitted them to the Government, but the draft budgetary-fiscal policy contains none of these measures.

If their demands continue to be ignored and Parliament adopts the budgetary-fiscal policy in the current form, the employers will join in any protest that will be eventually mounted.