LIBERALS QUIT RULING COALITION

The parliamentary Liberal Party has abandoned the Moldovan pro-European ruling coalition. The question was thoroughly discussed at the emergency meeting of the LP all-republican council that lasted until Friday evening.

According to yet preliminary information, the Liberals discussed situation in the country as a whole and in the party, as well as the expediency of their remaining in the governing coalition after the arrests of the First Deputy Chairperson of the Liberal Party, Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Iurie Chirinciuc and a number of other LP celebrities.

On Friday, the 11-member parliamentary Liberal faction boycotted the plenary meeting of the Moldovan Parliament that heard the Moldovan Government’s work report. Not a single of the three LP Ministers of the Government were available in the Parliament today.

On Friday evening, LP leader Mihai Ghimpu stated: “What we can see in Moldova lately is struggle not against corruption but against the Liberal Party, which has always promoted its party interests and the ideals of Moldova’s unification with Romania. We have come to realize that the governing coalition does not value us, and Moldova citizens don't, though we have always stood defending national interests”.

Ghimpu claimed that [his nephew] Dorin Chirtoaca had been placed in custody due to the evidence given against him by Chisinau Deputy Mayor Nistor Grozavu.

According to the information available with Infotag, the sitting of the LP council began with a considerable delay because before it, Mihai Ghimpu held a long meeting with Ambassador Pirkka Tapiola, Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Moldova.

However, the Liberals’ departure from the ruling coalition does not mean a disintegration of the coalition: the parliamentary majority will be preserved thanks to the 10 deputies of the European People’s Group [stemming from Iurie Leanca’s European People’s Party of Moldova (EPPM)] who vote in parliament in fact in concert with the governing coalition.