Moldovan government takes responsibility before parliament for amendment of four laws

Chisinau, 9 July /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Ion Chicu today unveiled in parliament the package of four laws on which the cabinet of ministers had taken responsibility. The opposition lawmakers have at their disposal 72 hours to initiate a motion of censure against the current government.  

After three failed attempts to meet, 51 MPs today came to the session hall. The lawmaker of the Party of Socialist (PSRM), Stefan Gatcan, who has earlier informed that he was giving up the MP mandate, was also present in the session hall.

Today, the government assumed responsibility before parliament for the amendment of the law on the single salary payment system in the public sector, state budget law for 2020, law on the state social insurances for 2020 and amendment of the law on the mandatory health insurances accounts for 2020.    

The amendments made to the law of the single salary payment system in the public sector resides, mainly, in the need to financially stimulate the medical employees involved in activities of supervision, control and treatment of the COVID-19 infection. Thus, the salaries of the medical employees from the medical institutions/subdivisions will increase in several stages. At the first stage, they will increase by 30 per cent as of 1 September 2020 and afterwards - by another 30 per cent beginning with 1 January 2021. Another growth, by 40 per cent, will take place in the first half of the next year. The final goal is to double the salaries of the concerned categories of employees. About 4,500 medical staff units will benefit from the concerned right: the medical institutions/subdivisions of the Defence Ministry, Interior Ministry, National Administration of Penitentiaries, Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) (centres, asylums, social services), financed from the state budget and local budgets, National Public Health Agency, Transplant Agency, Forensic Medicine Centre, National Blood Transfusion Centre, Medicines and Medical Devices Agency.         

According to Prime Minister Ion Chicu, the amendment of the law on the 2020 state budget law is prompted by the need to attenuate the impact of the epidemiological situation and consequences of the climate phenomena.  The part of revenues increases by 52.4 million lei, the part of expenses - by 1,283.4 million lei and the deficit grows by 1,231.4 million lei and is provided with domestic and external financing sources.   

As much as 402.6 million lei was provided for the 30-per cent increase in the salaries for medical employees starting from 1 September 2020, of which 40 million lei – from the state budget and 362 million lei – through transfers to the mandatory health insurances accounts.

A one-off support of 700 lei is provided to the beneficiaries of pensions and state social allocations, the quantum of which does not exceed 3,000 lei (+466.3 million lei).

The state will subsidize economic agents through the increase of allocations for: national fund for development of agriculture and rural development (+100 million lei); fund for guaranteeing the loans for the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises (+50 million lei) and development of the entrepreneurial infrastructure within the free economic zones (+50 million lei) and other measures, First Home state programme – 20 million lei.   

Also, the law on the state social insurances for 2020 is amended. The revenues and expenses of the state social insurances budget are specified through increase by 469,584 thousand lei or from 23,869,815.4 thousand lei up to 24,339,399.4 thousand lei. Under the draft, the state social insurances budget’s indicators are harmonized with the indicators included in the draft law for the amendment of the state budget law.     

Under another law, approved through the taking of responsibility by the government before parliament, the law on mandatory health insurances accounts for 2020 is modified. The concerned revenues are approved at 8,917,389.9 thousand lei, with a deficit amounting to 337,998.5 thousand lei.  

At the parliament’s rostrum, PM Ion Chicu said that the drafts on which the government took responsibility regarded about one million of Moldova’s citizens, including pensioners and beneficiaries of social allocations, medical system’s employees, tens of thousands of farmers, thousands of small entrepreneurs,  hundreds of policemen and servicemen, tens of descendants of the physicians dead of COVID-19.