The Government approved a bill to simplify the procedure for signing, approving and ratifying international treaties. After the bill is passed by Parliament, the financial agreements by which grants are offered to Moldova will not need to be ratified by the legislative body as they will be endorsed at Government level only, IPN reports.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Natalia Gherman said the process of concluding international treaties, in particular those that refer to grants, lasts for about seven months. There are situations when the Government, in virtue of the existing internal norms and procedures, cannot ensure the implementation of agreements on time. This sometimes leads to the impossibility of obtaining grants for the economic and social development of Moldova.

The bill sets the average period during which a grant agreement will take effect at a month and a half, if no changes need to be made to the legislation.

The bill was drafted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration in concert with the Ministry of Finance and the State Chancellery. A similar bill to amend the Law on International Treaties was submitted to Parliament last February, but it was sent back to the Government. The new bill was formulated taking into account the legislature’s appraisal of the first bill and the objections of other interested institutions.