Moldovan parliament, government set joint priorities for 2018

Chisinau, 6 February /MOLDPRES/ – The draft law on state budget for 2019 has to be examined and adopted by the end of spring session 2018. The proposal was made at the first joint Parliament – Government meeting today, chaired by Speaker of Parliament, Andrian Candu, and Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, the parliament’s communication and public relations department has reported.

The parliament and government set common goals and priorities for 2018, agreeing on time – table of actions. The members of the Cabinet of Ministers and MPs discussed the legislative agenda and commitments to development partners. Among those are packages of laws needed to reform judiciary, pension, energy, human rights, media law, fight against corruption, financial and banking sector, development of road infrastructure, securing tranches II and III of macrofinancial assistance funds from EU etc.

Also, chiefs of parliamentary committees and Cabinet ministers discussed the progress and certain difficulties in implementation of Roadmap on Reform Agenda and Legislative Plan for Implementation of Moldova – EU Association Agreement for 2018.

Andrian Candu called for compliance with deadlines for transmission and examination of draft laws, noting the need for permanent committees and factions to collaborate with authors of the initiatives within legislative process.

"The quality of adopted laws and impact of their implementation is our goal this year. Parliament moves to a qualitatively new stage in parliamentary scrutiny throughout implementation of new ex – post evaluation mechanism. We will make a legal and impact assessment so as to ensure that adopted laws have a beneficial effect upon citizens. We will also focus on implementation of Roadmap for Priority Reform Agenda, Plan for Implementation of Moldova – EU Association Agreement and current governance programme," said the Speaker of Parliament.

At his turn, the Premier requested the support of parliament in approving several priority projects.

"I am absolutely sure that despite we are having an electoral year, we will succeed if we increase the speeds from the beginning of the year as to achieve more than before. The focus is on the first half of the year. You will find in the list of priority projects and conditionalities of Agreement for macrofinancial assistance of tranches two and three, we will do everything we can and unite our efforts so that they will be achieved by the end of the parliamentary session," said PM Pavel Filip.

Traditionally, Parliament and Government convene in a joint meeting at the beginning of parliamentary sessions. Heads of parliamentary committees and members of the Cabinet of Ministers attended the discussions today.