MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REFUSES TO HEAR REINTEGRATION DEPUTY PREMIER CRISTINA LESNIC

On Thursday, the Moldovan parliamentary majority refused to hear Moldova’s Special Representative for Transnistria negotiations, Deputy Prime Minister for Country Reintegration Cristina Lesnic in connection with this week’s signing between Chisinau and Tiraspol of the Protocol Decision “On the Participation in the International Road Traffic of Transnistrian Motor Vehicles not Involved in Commercial Activities”. The motion to hear Lesnic at the forum’s plenary sitting was put forward by the parliamentary Liberal Democratic and Liberal factions.

LDP faction chairman Tudor Deliu stated that the signing of the Protocol Decision will inflict damage to the Moldovan economy, will serve a support to the Tiraspol regime, and may jeopardize citizens’ personal data.

Chairman of the parliamentary Standing Committee for Defense and State Security Roman Botan, L, stressed that the freedom of movement must be guaranteed for all citizens residing in the Republic of Moldova territory, and in both directions.

He explained: presently, many deputies of the Moldovan Parliament cannot travel to the Transnistrian region – “except President Igor Dodon and the deputies from the Party of Socialists, which he, regretfully, had headed [until his election President]”. Botan did not explain why he regrets this fact in Dodon’s biography.

Socialist MP Vlad Batrincea said that the Protocol Decision signing is one of few good initiatives aimed at ensuring the freedom of movement for Republic of Moldova citizens.

“It is only due to your rhetoric that we cannot bring the residents of the two Dniester banks closer to each other”, Vlad Batrincea stated addressing the Liberal Democrats and Liberals. “If you have no concrete proposals for resolving the Transnistrian conflict, then at least don’t put a spoke in our wheel, otherwise we will be resolving the Transnistrian problem for another 25 years”.

But Parliament Chairman Andrian Candu proposed to first hear the Protocol signature question in the parliamentary ad hoc commission and afterwards, if need be, to hear Deputy Prime Minister Lesnic at a plenary meeting. The Liberal Democrats and Liberals rejected Candu’s proposal and demanded to include the question into the plenary agenda. But their motion was voted down by a majority in the room.