PARLIAMENT APPROVES 2-OF-3 BILLS PERTAINING TO GAGAUZIA

On Friday, the Moldovan Parliament approved two of the three draft laws pertaining to the legal status of the southern Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia.

The third - and the key one - bill was approved only in a first reading. A second reading has been postponed until autumn because this sensitive document may be approved by not less than three-fifths of parliamentarians, but there was no such number in the room today.

The third bill stipulates inter alia that amendments in the Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia may be made only upon receiving a positive conclusion from the Gagauzia authorities.

Presenting the 3 bills to the forum, Gagauzia Popular Assembly Speaker Vladimir Kyssa said that the proposed draft laws are liquidating differing interpretations in the realization of the autonomy's plenary powers.

The former 2 bills are aimed at harmonizing the Moldovan [later] legislation with the [earlier] Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia. According to the first bill, Gagauzia is becoming a separate type of administrative unit, not a raion as before. And the second one permits the Gagauzia administration to rename their populated areas.