{"id":448162,"date":"2020-04-16T15:55:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T15:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=448162"},"modified":"2020-04-16T16:25:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T16:25:07","slug":"the-state-of-emergency-side-effects-or-what-is-the-proper-moment-to-start-the-presidential-election-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/the-state-of-emergency-side-effects-or-what-is-the-proper-moment-to-start-the-presidential-election-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"The state of emergency ‘side effects’ or what is the proper moment to start the presidential election campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

It turns out that, even during the pandemic crisis, the hidden interests of Moldova’s politicians\u00a0are promoted. Fiddling while Rome burns, they adopt dubious draft laws, conceal the healthcare system real problems and spend money on polishing monuments for Victory Day, along with their public image, while preparing for autumn elections.<\/p>\n

In 2020, presidential elections will be held in Moldova. Therefore, socialists and especially the current president of the country Igor Dodon seem to have the election campaign already started.<\/p>\n

A double edged law<\/h3>\n

At the beginning of this month, the Government of the Republic of Moldova decided to adopt and assume the responsibility for a\u00a0draft law<\/a> covering assistance measures for people and enterprises that were affected by the pandemic crisis. At first glance, the bill included such provisions as\u00a0increase of unemployment aid, support payments to low-budget families, subsidies paid to companies having expenses related to payment of salaries or allowances to personnel who lost their jobs, decrease of the VAT rate from 20% to 15% for catering, restaurant and hotel businesses, etc.<\/p>\n

The draft law was promulgated by the president of the country and came into force automatically without being debated and voted in the Parliament due to lack of quorum, as socialist and democratic MPs were missing that day. The Moldovan legislation says, if there is no impugnment or no-confidence motion brought in the Parliament within 72 hours the provisions of the bill come into force.<\/p>\n

The document though, also included provisions that didn’t have a direct connection with the state of emergency. For example, such measures as delaying with one year the prohibition of exposing tobacco products in shops,\u00a0modifying the amount of taxes for extraction industry, providing facilities regarding the refund of excise duties for duty-free shops and amendment of the law on tobacco control were introduced.<\/p>\n

The sneaky provisions were disclosed by the opposition representatives who notified the Constitutional Court about the abusive provisions, which could facilitate tax evasion and theft of public money.<\/p>\n

As a consequence, the Constitutional Court qualified the entire adopted law for which the Government assumed the responsibility as unconstitutional. The measures having a social character that were previously provided were anyway voted by the Commission for Emergency Situation, proving one more time that hidden interests were included at first in the draft law adopted by the Government and declared unconstitutional by the Court.<\/p>\n

“Eternity” no mater what<\/h3>\n

While fighting against the coronavirus pandemic should remain a priority when it comes to allocating state budget funds, President Igor Dodon’s claimed that such activities as repairing the “Eternity” Memorial Complex wouldn’t be suspended. On the contrary, the renovation work started right in the middle of pandemic crisis, in mid-March 2020, and is planned to be completed by Victory Day (May 9). An amount of 2,33 million lei was allocated from the Ministry of Defence funds for this purpose, according to an investigation<\/a> conducted by ZdG.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Source: zdg.md<\/p><\/div>\n

The renovation work was promised by President Dodon in 2018. However, it did not take place neither in 2018, nor in 2019. The topic started to be discussed in January 2020, when the head of state declared that the renovation of the Complex is a crucial objective for this year,\u00a0on the 75th anniversary of Victory Day.<\/p>\n

The company in charge of renovation works didn’t win any public bid and the sum of the signed contract wasn’t publicly announced by authorities.<\/p>\n

1 paid fine = 1 vote<\/h3>\n

One more method of increasing the approval ratings of politicians seems to be paying fines received by citizens during the pandemic period.\u00a0After the case of Alexandra Chiabur – a pensioner from Chisinau, aged 66, who was fined 22500 lei (the equivalent of 17 monthly retirement payments of her) for violating the isolation regime at home – was published in the media, a socialist MP declared\u00a0that President Igor Dodon has paid the fine from his own funds.<\/p>\n

“The president learned about the problem, the president helped. The fine is fully paid,”<\/em> said the socialist MP Vladimir Odnostalco in a video published on social media where he handed in the proof of the already paid fine.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n