{"id":185701,"date":"2013-05-04T15:49:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-04T15:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.moldova.org\/2013\/05\/04\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/"},"modified":"2013-05-04T15:49:24","modified_gmt":"2013-05-04T15:49:24","slug":"eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The European Union sends a clear message to the political leaders in Moldova “not to lose sight of the long-term impact of their decisions” after the lawmakers have issued some decisions on Friday which have been deemed “in contradiction with the European standards<\/a>” by the Venice Commission.<\/p>\n

The Parliament voted in the first reading a draft amendment to the Law on the Constitutional Court, which envisages the Legislative to remove judges of the Constitutional Court by a vote of 3\/5 of Parliament.<\/p>\n

The European Commission is concerned about the adoption of this amendment which allows the Legislative to remove a judge due to a “lack of trust” with the support of 61 lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy said in a joint statement on Friday that they share the same concerns expressed by the Venice Commission, adding that the decision was adopted without proper consultation of the civil society, the move threatening the democracy.<\/p>\n

“This law, as well as a number of other important laws, touching upon fundamental issues for the functioning of Moldova’s democracy, have been adopted with extreme haste, and without proper consultation with Moldovan society, or appropriate regard to European standards on constitutional reform, in particular those of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe,” the EU officials said in their statement.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a non-formal coalition between the Communists and the Liberal-Democrats lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of modifying the electoral threshold from 4% to 7%. In 2010 the threshold was lowered from 5% to 4% by the vote of the Alliance for European Integration, where the Liberal-Democrats were part of.<\/p>\n

Another decision taken by the Parliament is restoring the right of the Soviet-style passport bearers to cast their votes during elections. However, this was restricted through parliamentary vote two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

During the plenary meeting on Friday, the Moldovan Communist and Liberal-Democrat deputies have also dismissed the newly appointed Prosecutor-General<\/a>, Corneliu Gurin. The same day, the mixed electoral system which was established a few weeks ago was also abolished.<\/p>\n

Among these, the National Anti-Corruption Center will be subordinated to the Government and not to the Parliament as it was so far. During the same session, the informal coalition increased the power of the Premier to dismiss cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n

The European Union said that all these new measures could threaten the independence of important institutions and become a hindrance to Moldova’s rule of law and democratic development.<\/p>\n

“We understand that these laws, in addition to the measures affecting the Constitutional Court judges, include measures on the electoral law, the threshold required for parties to enter parliament, the powers of the Acting Prime Minister to dismiss Ministers and Heads of Institutions and a change in status of the National Anti-Corruption Centre,” the statement of Catherine Ashton and Stefan Fule reads. “This follows a worrying new pattern of decision-making in Moldova, reflected also in other recent legislative moves, where the institutions of the state have been used in the interest of a few.”  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>The European Union sends a clear message to the political leaders in Moldova \u201cnot to lose sight of the long-term impact of their decisions\u201d after the lawmakers have issued some decisions on Friday which have been deemed \u201cin contradiction with the European standards\u201d by the Venice Commission. The Parliament voted in the first reading a draft amendment to the Law on the Constitutional Court, which envisages the Legislative to remove judges of the Constitutional Court by a vote of 3\/5 of Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":185700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The European Union sends a clear message to the political leaders in Moldova “not to lose sight of the long-term impact of their decisions” after the lawmakers have issued some decisions on Friday which have been deemed “in contradiction with the European standards<\/a>” by the Venice Commission.<\/p>\n

The Parliament voted in the first reading a draft amendment to the Law on the Constitutional Court, which envisages the Legislative to remove judges of the Constitutional Court by a vote of 3\/5 of Parliament.<\/p>\n

The European Commission is concerned about the adoption of this amendment which allows the Legislative to remove a judge due to a “lack of trust” with the support of 61 lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy said in a joint statement on Friday that they share the same concerns expressed by the Venice Commission, adding that the decision was adopted without proper consultation of the civil society, the move threatening the democracy.<\/p>\n

“This law, as well as a number of other important laws, touching upon fundamental issues for the functioning of Moldova’s democracy, have been adopted with extreme haste, and without proper consultation with Moldovan society, or appropriate regard to European standards on constitutional reform, in particular those of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe,” the EU officials said in their statement.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a non-formal coalition between the Communists and the Liberal-Democrats lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of modifying the electoral threshold from 4% to 7%. In 2010 the threshold was lowered from 5% to 4% by the vote of the Alliance for European Integration, where the Liberal-Democrats were part of.<\/p>\n

Another decision taken by the Parliament is restoring the right of the Soviet-style passport bearers to cast their votes during elections. However, this was restricted through parliamentary vote two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

During the plenary meeting on Friday, the Moldovan Communist and Liberal-Democrat deputies have also dismissed the newly appointed Prosecutor-General<\/a>, Corneliu Gurin. The same day, the mixed electoral system which was established a few weeks ago was also abolished.<\/p>\n

Among these, the National Anti-Corruption Center will be subordinated to the Government and not to the Parliament as it was so far. During the same session, the informal coalition increased the power of the Premier to dismiss cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n

The European Union said that all these new measures could threaten the independence of important institutions and become a hindrance to Moldova’s rule of law and democratic development.<\/p>\n

“We understand that these laws, in addition to the measures affecting the Constitutional Court judges, include measures on the electoral law, the threshold required for parties to enter parliament, the powers of the Acting Prime Minister to dismiss Ministers and Heads of Institutions and a change in status of the National Anti-Corruption Centre,” the statement of Catherine Ashton and Stefan Fule reads. “This follows a worrying new pattern of decision-making in Moldova, reflected also in other recent legislative moves, where the institutions of the state have been used in the interest of a few.”  <\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>","yoast_head":"\nEU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law - Moldova.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Autor invitat\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Autor invitat\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e590ccdfbd35fcd038aaf1b84370dadd\"},\"headline\":\"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-04T15:49:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":538,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/\",\"name\":\"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law - Moldova.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-04T15:49:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e590ccdfbd35fcd038aaf1b84370dadd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moldova.org\",\"description\":\"The first news website of Moldova\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e590ccdfbd35fcd038aaf1b84370dadd\",\"name\":\"Autor invitat\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f57d391b1fe13609c1c398a550a7b6f0e8babe6cd537d48bbeb806ba55c53094?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f57d391b1fe13609c1c398a550a7b6f0e8babe6cd537d48bbeb806ba55c53094?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f57d391b1fe13609c1c398a550a7b6f0e8babe6cd537d48bbeb806ba55c53094?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Autor invitat\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law - Moldova.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Autor invitat","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/"},"author":{"name":"Autor invitat","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e590ccdfbd35fcd038aaf1b84370dadd"},"headline":"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law","datePublished":"2013-05-04T15:49:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/"},"wordCount":538,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/","url":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/","name":"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law - Moldova.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2013-05-04T15:49:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e590ccdfbd35fcd038aaf1b84370dadd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/eu-criticizes-moldova-decisions-adopted-friday-threaten-democracy-and-rule-of-law-236685-eng\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EU criticizes Moldova: Decisions adopted Friday threaten democracy and rule of law"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/","name":"Moldova.org","description":"The first news website of Moldova","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e590ccdfbd35fcd038aaf1b84370dadd","name":"Autor invitat","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f57d391b1fe13609c1c398a550a7b6f0e8babe6cd537d48bbeb806ba55c53094?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f57d391b1fe13609c1c398a550a7b6f0e8babe6cd537d48bbeb806ba55c53094?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f57d391b1fe13609c1c398a550a7b6f0e8babe6cd537d48bbeb806ba55c53094?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Autor invitat"},"url":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}