PRESIDENT DODON RECALLS DRAFT STRATEGY OF NATIONAL SECURITY FROM PARLIAMENT

Moldovan President Igor Dodon has recalled from the Parliament the draft Strategy of National Security of the Republic of Moldova.

Dodon wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday: “I have signed a presidential decree on recalling from the Parliament the draft National Security Strategy and the Action Plan of Strategy realization, worked out during the previous president’s tenure, because the contents of these documents do not correspond to the considerable changes that have taken place since then in the national, regional and international security spheres”.

The head of state reminded that the working out of a national security strategy is the exceptional prerogative of the president, as is explicitly stipulated by Articles 25 and 364 of the Law on National security.

In this connection, Igor Dodon has demanded to form a new Commission for drafting a new National Security Strategy “that would correspond to the nation’s state interests, its neutral status, and the requirements to be met with the consolidation of the country’s statehood and modernization”.

Presently, Moldova lives under the National Security Strategy approved by the Parliament on July 15, 2011. In May 2015, the country’s Supreme Security Council decided to work out a new Strategy, after which then-President Nicolae Timofti signed a decree on establishing a commission for preparing the document. It was worked out by Moldovan specialists with the active participation of NATO experts. The draft Strategy was presented in March 2016, after which it was sent to the Parliament for consideration and approval. However, the document has not been considered until now.

The draft Strategy contains 6 priorities: a law-governed state and citizens’ trust in state institutions; appropriate state governance; struggle against corruption; transparency and efficiency of decisions; development of a sustainable economy; and development of the country’s defense ability in a military sense. The 30-page document consists of 4 main sections.

According to the draft, the constitutionally neutral Republic of Moldova stands for a more active cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and is going to promote an active external policy as an instrument of strengthening its state security. Due to the continuing crisis in Ukraine, a special attention is going to be attached to “various aspects of regional security”. The document reads that the republic seeks to maintain close relations and develop bilateral cooperation with European Union countries, the United States, Russia, Romania and Ukraine, as well as with other interested sides.