Chisinau, July 25 (Infotag). Moldovan deputies will study the British experience on providing parliamentary transparency. For this purpose, UK Parliament Member and honorary OSCE Parliamentary Assembly chairman Bruce George presented today in Chisinau a book entitled “Ten steps towards a transparent parliament”.

He said that the book contains information about how to regulate deputies’ out of parliament business interests.

“Moldova is a country situated between two systems – the Soviet one and the European one. The path that Moldova will choose fully depends on its government and people. If you advocate European integration and implement European standards and norms, then we will tell Moldova ‘Welcome in the EU!’”, Bruce George said.

He believes that fighting corruption should become one of Moldova’s key priorities.

“Corruption exists everywhere, even in the EU. But it is also true that most deputies and ministers of the EU member states are honest people, although there are of course exceptions. However, the closer we are to Southern Europe, the more corruption there is”, the UK deputy said.

Bruce George said that the British Parliament has a document regulating relations between MPs and the business community.

“We have very strict rules. For instance, deputies must declare any present that they receive and that is more expensive that 1% of their salary. We must tell if we hold important positions in private companies or give consultations. We must also announce about any visits abroad which are partly covered by non-parliamentary structures”, he said.

According to Bruce George, deputies violating these rules risk punishment.

“Deputies can be banned from attending parliamentary activities from one week to one month, or even excluded from parliament. This is awful shame, especially given the fact that the media will not lose the opportunity to report in details about such cases”, Bruce George said.

The book “Ten steps towards a transparent parliament” has been translated into Romanian and will be given to deputies and civil society free of charge.