On 27 March 2018, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, holding its 34th Session in Strasbourg (France), adopted a recommendation on the fact-finding mission on the situation of local elected representatives in the Republic of Moldova that was carried out in Chișinău on 13 December 2017. The mission aimed at gathering information about the situation of the suspended Mayor of Chișinău, Dorin Chirtoaca, was carried out at the request of the Monitoring Committee and initiated by complaints formulated by the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM).
Presented by the co-rapporteurs Marc COOLS (Belgium, ILDG) and Gunn Marit HELGESEN, (Norway, EPP/CCE), the report highlights that the situation of local democracy has substantially deteriorated in Moldova since the last Congress monitoring report (2012) and the way the local recall referendum was carried out, targeting the Mayor of Chișinău entailed the dysfunction of local governance in the capital city and more broadly affected the functioning of local democracy. The rapporteurs expressed their concerns regarding the lack of clear legal basis to suspend a local elected representative and the inadequacy of consultation with the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM). In the report they allege a violation of art. 8.3 of the Charter (principle of proportionality in the control of local government bodies).
“This situation clearly goes against the requirements of art. 3.2 of the Charter on the freely elected members of councils or assemblies on the basis of direct, equal, universal suffrage” stated Marc COOLS. Therefore the Congress recommends to examine the Court proceedings against local elected representatives and to revise the Moldovan legislation, and notably the Electoral code, to ensure that local elected representatives manage their municipalities freely and are not exposed to judicial harassment.
The rapporteurs also remained concerned by a large number of criminal prosecutions against local elected representatives on the grounds of the anti-corruption fight. “The anti-corruption measures cannot serve in any way as a systematic ground for what we would call “massive “ arrests”, stated Gunn Marit HELGESEN. “The correct equilibrium between local public interest and the fight against corruption must be found, and the dialogue between the national Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova and the government should be resumed with the help of a regular formalised consultation process and in accordance with the Charter and Resolution 328”, she concluded.
The Republic of Moldova ratified the European Charter of Local Self Government in 1997. The countries which have ratified the Charter are bound by its provisions. The Charter requires compliance with a minimum number of rights, which form the European foundation for local self-government. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities ensures that these principles are observed.
- Report CG34(2018)09
- Presentation by Marc COOLS (Belgium, ILDG), Congress rapporteur on Local and regional democracy (French version)
- Presentation by Gunn Marit HELGESEN (Norway, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of regions and Congress rapporteur on Local and regional democracy
- Video of the debate
** 34th Session of the Congress **
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