PAS Law Machine Gone Wild

Semyon ALBU

Parliament under PAS has lost its significance and meaning, turning into an auxiliary body for rubberstamping the decisions needed by the regime

Yesterday’s parliamentary session was significant for many reasons. Firstly, it was the last one of the spring-summer sessions before the deputies went on holiday. Secondly, in just one day, deputies passed so much that we will remember it for a long time. The program of the meeting contained more than 40 questions, many of which were quite important and complex. So, it was clear from the outset that there was no hope for any thoughtful decision-making on the part of the ruling party MPs. Traditionally, the PAS faction held a new round of anti-people votes alone. SOR members have not attended this madhouse for a long time, and the Communist and Socialist Bloc announced a boycott after all their proposals to change the agenda were expectedly ignored by the parliamentary majority. Left in comfortable solitude, the PAS deputies sometimes without even taking a break from surfing social networks, began to stamp the necessary decisions. And, as you understand, everything that the central government wanted from them was supported without any questions and discussions. For instance, PAS deputies voted in two sessions for drafts on denouncing three CIS agreements – on labor protection cooperation, on promoting a coordinated policy in the field of standardization, metrology and certification, as well as on the support and development of small business in the CIS member states. Do you think anyone has analyzed the consequences of the withdrawal from these agreements? Have any of the lawmakers raised any questions about the impact of this withdrawal on the situation of the tens of thousands of our labor migrants in the post-Soviet countries, primarily in Russia? Of course not. There is a (geo)political task - to leave the CIS rapidly - and it is fulfilled, disregarding everything, even the interests of our own citizens. In order not to delay, during the second session the government approved the drafts on the withdrawal from 2 other agreements: on cooperation in the formation of a common educational space in the CIS and on technical barriers in the free trade zone. Speaker Igor Grosu promised that the authorities will continue their activity in the same vein: “We started the process with the procedure of Moldova’s withdrawal from the agreement on the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. We have to denounce many agreements, the ones that have never been helpful for Moldova. Together with the government, we will continue this work and will renounce everything that contradicts our national interest”. The far it goes, the messier it gets. Olesea Stamate’s draft to prohibit members of banned parties from participating in local, parliamentary and presidential elections for a three-to-five-year period passed the second session. Since only the SOR party has been recognized as unconstitutional, it is obvious that this measure is targeted  personally against it. This is a political revenge for all the “good things”: for the scandalous elections in Balti, the offensive loss in Gagauzia, protests, criticism, and so on. Obviously, the SOR members have a “dirty fingers in the pie” but the mediocrity from PAS could not prove or do anything within the framework of the law, and as a result they are going through lawlessness, struggling against Ilan Shor. Which automatically puts them on the same level (and even lower) with their main enemy. As usual, this rather important law with far-reaching consequences was adopted hastily, without any attempts at critical thinking. The draft itself appeared only on 10 July, and three weeks later it lost its status of a “draft”. By the way, the National Anticorruption Centre, most loyal to the authorities, wrote in its conclusion that it might violate civil rights and it would be better to bring it to public debate. But, of course, nobody wanted to engage in such democracy in our totalitarian regime. Nobody listened to NAC’s arguments in the case of the Ministry of Truth creation, i.e. “the center for strategic communication and fighting disinformation”, which has lost its former name “Patriot” over the past months. NAC claimed that setting up the new body is poorly justified by the authors, as it is not clear how many people will work in it or how much it will cost the taxpayers. But again, what does it matter if it is “needed”, especially since it was initiative of Maia Sandu. It is interesting that in the final version of the draft on establishing the center, the provision that the head of the center cannot be a party member was removed. So, in theory, even a PAS representative can now lead this body. It is very convenient, especially since the ruling party, as we see, becomes more brazen in its totalitarian tendencies every day. On the initiative of Radu Marian, the new amendment to the Tax Code, which changes the procedure of tax reimbursement to entrepreneurs in Gagauzia, was adopted. Now this procedure will be done from the budget of the autonomy, not from the state budget, which, according to the deputy, will allow “saving” 100 million lei annually. However, it is not about saving, but about a banal “slap” to the Gagauz for the wrong choice of the bashkan. The authorities continue to play with fire, provoking the Gagauz to a conflict with Chisinau. The ultimate goal is probably to provoke a revolt and to eliminate autonomy quietly. But this plan is not as clever and cunning as it seems to our government. In addition, the parliamentary majority extended the state of emergency for another 60 days. Prime Minister Dorin Recean motivated the need for this with a video of the events in Ukraine. As I wrote a while ago, they don’t even care anymore. Another important thing is the reduction of powers of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, which means the personal defeat of Veronica Dragalin in the war of prosecutorial bodies. Now her department will deal only with “big corruption”, and other cases will be forwarded to the NAC and other bodies. However, these spiders fighting in a jar is the last thing I’m interested in – they can do what they want. Less important, the parliament also ratified the agreement between Moldova and Ukraine on the construction of a road bridge across the Dniester in the area of Cosauti-Iampol by 2025, on which the executors from both sides will make profit. This is a very beneficial project, since governments found money even during the war. Another loan for 90 million euros was approved, this time from Japan. The conditions are not bad, but it is not a grant, so it will have to be paid back with interest. This is another backing that will only increase Moldova’s total debt. As you can see, the deputies had a very productive day yesterday. They only had time to raise their hands, to vote for one stupid bill or another. This doesn’t take much wits, and not 40 but 100 bills could have been passed this way. I remember that the Russian State Duma also voted frantically at one time to pass all sorts of odious and not-so-odious laws, for which it was offensively dubbed “the mad printer”. We mocked this as an illustration of a system that was far from being a true democracy. Today, our country has its own ‘crazy printer’ as well, and decisions are mindlessly rubberstamped on the ruling regime’s order. Worst of all, unlike Russia, we are a parliamentary republic where the main legislative body should actually be at the core of the political system. Instead, the parliament under PAS has turned into an appendage, with no discussions and debates, where truth is not born in disputes, and where any bill is unanimously voted for in Soviet-time manner. No criticism from MPs, no analysis of the bills they pass. This is a completely insane, irresponsible approach to running the country. Only transition figures or occupiers who do not care about the national interests can govern in such a way. Why everything is happening so is in my recent post. The DA Platform leader mentioned an interesting fact: 34 out of 63 deputies of the ruling majority in Moldova have not registered a single bill during more than two years in power. That is, they are just a useless crowd (for the country, not for the authorities) whose task is only to show up and raise hands when necessary. The only question is whether we actually need such a parliament and, more broadly, such a government?