The Moldovan National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum asks for the adoption without delay of the draft law on noncommercial organizations in the final reading

The Moldovan National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (NP EPCSF) calls on the Parliament to adopt without delay the Draft law on noncommercial organizations in the final reading, in version approved by the parliamentary Committee for Legal Matters, Appointments, and Immunities on 28 May 2020 with its immediate entry into force.

The member-organizations of the NP EPCSF welcome the endorsement of Draft Law No. 109 by the parliamentary Commission for Legal Matters, Appointments, and Immunities for the final reading and that it was not complemented with provisions that can hinder SCOs’ work. Thus, the draft law can be adopted in the final reading and since no additional actions are required for the enactment of Draft Law No. 109, it can come into force under the general rule - one month after its publication in the Official Gazette.

Draft Law No. 109 on noncommercial organizations was registered in Parliament on 3 April 2018. It was prepared by a working group—which included civil society representatives—set up by the Ministry of Justice in 2016. The draft law passed repeated public consultation initiated by the Ministry of Justice, which resulted in its refinement, and has all required endorsements. In its current version, the draft law transposes the best practices and standards concerning freedom of association recommended by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR. The draft law passed its first reading in Parliament on 3 May 2018. On 28 May 2020, the parliamentary Committee for Legal Matters, Appointments, and Immunities proposed the adoption of the draft law in the final reading.

The draft law simplifies the registration of noncommercial organizations, provides for their free registration, and removes the rigid internal organization structure imposed on them by current laws. The draft law limits the authorities’ possibilities for exerting pressure on noncommercial organizations and excludes unjustified limitations on the foundation of noncommercial organizations by persons from certain categories. The draft law completely prohibits noncommercial organizations from supporting election candidates and sets clear limits on the relationship between nonprofits and political parties. The draft law also establishes the legal framework concerning the government financing or support for noncommercial organizations —a field that has been insufficiently regulated by current laws. In addition, it addresses the legal gaps concerning the establishment of noncommercial organizations that appeared as a result of the 2019 amendment of the Civil Code. It does not require the repeated registration of noncommercial organizations and does not restrict foreign funding for them.

Earlier, many civil society organizations (CSOs) requested that Parliament pass Draft Law No. 109 (public appeal of 3 March 2020 signed by more than 20 SCOs and public appeal of 30 April 2020 signed by more than 40 SCOs).

The National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum was established in 2011 and currently has 84 members, of which 6 are umbrella organizations for other 255 organizations. The mission of the Platform is to strengthen the European integration and democratic development of the Republic of Moldova and to contribute to advocacy and monitoring for the implementation of the EU – RM Association Agreement and other documents applicable to the Eastern Partnership and the EU – RM relationship.

The Public Appeal in English is available HERE.

The Public Appeal in Romanian is available HERE.

 

PUBLIC STATEMENT: Politicians must halt intimidation of judges

The signatory organizations express their deep concern regarding the attacks launched by politicians against the Constitutional Court and the judiciary and urge to end them immediately. We ask the Office of the Prosecutor General to investigate ex-officio, expeditiously and diligently the suspicions concerning the surveillance of the Constitutional Court judges and to provide public details regarding the undertaken actions. We also urge mass-media to report on the judiciary in an impartial manner respecting ethical norms. We urge the development partners to monitor closely the current situation around the Constitutional Court and attacks on judges.

In recent weeks, the President of the country, Igor DODON and some MP’s from the governing parties have made several public statements that could be considered attacks against the Constitutional Court and the judiciary.

A. Attacks against judges of the Constitutional Court

The pressure exerted on judges of the Constitutional Court was revealed by a MP from the opposition on 25 April 2020. According to him, the constitutional judges were visually oversight by two state institutions. On 28 April 2020, the Office of the Prosecutor General stated in a press release that it had not started any criminal proceedings and had not authorized special investigative measures regarding the judges of the Constitutional Court. It is also mentioned in the press release that the MP will be invited to the prosecutor's office to present the evidence and get explanations about the responsibility for the false or slanderous denunciation. The press release seems to be rather an intimidation of the MP, who publicly revealed the information about the surveillance of judges, than the concern for investigation of the raised facts. On 29 April 2020, the Chairperson of the Legal Committee for Appointments and Immunities of the Parliament requested the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) to launch disciplinary proceedings against and sanction three judges of the Constitutional Court. The application referred to the disclosure of the way the former President of the Constitutional Court was elected in August 2019. On 30 April 2020, the President of the Constitutional Court stated that four judges of the Constitutional Court suspect that they were surveilled and that they would request the prosecutors to investigate these suspicions.

It seems that the pressure on the judges is determined by the Constitutional Court examination of the constitutionality of the loan agreement with the Russian Federation, suspended by the Court on 23 April 2020. Moreover, the pressures seem to have been fuelled by the dismissal of the former MP from the Party of Socialists, Mr. Vladimir ȚURCAN, from the position of the President of the Constitutional Court on 23 April 2020. The dismissal took place following hisdiscussion with the President Igor DODON regarding the decision to suspend the loan agreement. Shortly after Mr. Țurcan dismissal, a leading representative of the Party of Socialists declared that the „Plahotniuc-Șor Group” had regained control over the Constitutional Court, and the parliamentary opposition was involved in this reshuffle. In the following days, the media affiliated with the governing alliance published biased articles on the integrity of the new President of the Constitutional Court. On 28 April 2020, the Constitutional Court issued a press release denouncing the media attacks against it. On 4 May 2020, the Plenary of the Constitutional Court notified the Office of the Prosecutor General regarding the statements for the press of some public persons and the alleged shadowing and intimidation against some judges of the Court.

B. Attacks against other judges

Members of the Government used offensive remarks expressions against judges. According to these statements, the judges are a "corrupt gang" that uses the system to obtain privileged retirement benefits and high salaries. The attacks on the judiciary have intensified after the adoption on 18 February 2020 of the decision by the ECtHR in the "Gemenii" case, according to which the Government was obliged to pay damages of over EUR 3.6 million. On 20 February 2020, the Prime Minister Ion CHICU asked the Minister of Finance to initiate the procedure of reducing the budget of the judiciary by MDL 70 million. On 23 April 2020, the Law on the State Budget was amended, reducing the budget of the judiciary by that amount. However, so far no recourse actions have been initiated against the judges involved in the "Gemenii" case. On the contrary, the process of changing recourse action against judges liable for ECtHR judgments was launched, unjustifiably insinuating that the current legislation does not allow claiming for compensation from judges who have violated the law in bad faith.

In a recent interview, the former interim Chairperson of the SCM, Dorel MUSTEAȚĂ, stated that politicians put pressures on him to resign, by launching a criminal case against his brother. Mr. Musteață declared that pressure was also exerted on other members of the SCM and that they would have been suggested to resign from office.

Attacks or intimidation of judges cannot be accepted. Judges must be independent. This is one of the main guarantees of the rule of law, respect for the rights and safety of citizens, as well as social equity. The best sign of the independence of judges is that they do not take decisions to the likes of the politicians. The best example of a dependent judiciary in democracies in the making is the lack of decisions unfavourable to the country's leadership and praising of judges and prosecutors by politicians.

In a fragile democracy, even public attacks by politicians are enough to discourage judges. This does not mean that judges cannot be criticized for their behaviour, but the criticism need to be done with discretion, based on reliable information and in good faith. Orchestrated campaigns to discredit judges cannot be accepted under any circumstances.

The Republic of Moldova does not have a political tradition of respecting the independence of judges. Politicians often attack the judiciary either through statements or by other measures or try to compromise the independence of the judiciary. The SCM and the Constitutional Court must act in their defence, and prosecutors must investigate ex officio and thoroughly any attempt to shadow or intimidate judges or prosecutors.

The signatory organizations urge:

  1. Politicians - to cease the attacks on the Constitutional Court and the judiciary;
  2. The Office of the Prosecutor General - to investigate ex-officio, thoroughly and promptly the suspicions concerning the surveillance of the Constitutional Court judges and to provide public details regarding the undertaken actions;
  3. Mass-media - to report impartially and in good faith on the situation in the justice sector, including on the activity of the Constitutional Court;
  4. Development partners - to monitor closely the current situation around the Constitutional Court, as well as the attacks of politicians and actions or inactions of law enforcement institutions against judges and prosecutors.

Signatory organizations:

  1. Legal Resources Centre from Moldova (LRCM),
  2. Institute for European Policy and Reforms (IEPR),
  3. Amnesty International Moldova (AIM),
  4. WatchDog Community,
  5. Association for Participatory Democracy “ADEPT”,
  6. Promo-LEX Association,
  7. East Europe Foundation,
  8. Institute for Public Policy (IPP),
  9. Centre for Policies and Reforms (CPR),
  10. Soros Foundation-Moldova,
  11. Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER).

PUBLIC CALL Influences on the Constitutional Court and judges’ acceptance of such influences are inadmissible

Civil society organizations are deeply worried about the discussions the Moldovan President has had with the President of the Constitutional Court about a case examined by the Constitutional Court. We are also concerned about the Constitutional Court’s President attempts to justify himself to the president of the country and voicing his opinion about the case before the issue of the Court’s decision. Such actions seriously tarnish the image of the Constitutional Court. We call on the Plenum of the Constitutional Court to take a stance on this situation and to adopt appropriate measures to prevent such situations in the future. We also call on the President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor DODON, to stop interfering in the work of the High Court.

On 2 April 2020, the Government of the Republic of Moldova took the responsibility for passing Law No.56 on the measures to support citizens and entrepreneurship during the lockdown and to amend certain normative acts. Several MPs addressed the Constitutional Court on that fact (applications 49a/2020, 51a/2020, 52a/2020, and 53a/2020). They challenged, inter alia, the constitutionality of the provisions of the law regarding the change of the budgetary and fiscal policy by introducing a new mechanism for calculation of local taxes on the extraction of mineral resources, the extension of concessions on sale of tobacco products, and the change of the way of levying excise duties in the duty-free shops. On 9 April 2020, the Constitutional Court suspended the effects of the entire Law No. 56. On 9 April 2020, the Constitutional Court admitted the applications, scheduling the examination on the merits for today, 13 April 2020, and ruled against the entire Law No.56.

On 10 April 2020, the Moldovan president declared during a talk show (time stamp 03:02) that he had discussed the details of the Court’s decision of 9 April 2020 with the President of the Constitutional Court, Vladimir ȚURCAN. President Igor DODON said that he had asked the President of the Constitutional Court for details on this case and the latter answered that four constitutional court judges had voted for that decision, while he had had a dissenting opinion and expressed his arguments supporting the constitutionality of the contested law. The text of the 9 April 2020 decision does not mention how the constitutional court judges voted or whether there was a dissenting opinion. At the beginning of today’s meeting, speaking about public reactions related to 9 April 2020 decision, the President of the Constitutional Court said that he had recused himself from examining the aforementioned applications. The Court plenum had admitted the recusal of Judge Vladimir ȚURCAN, and the examination had taken place in his absence.

It is regrettable that the President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor DODON, uses the powers provided for in the Constitution to discuss ongoing cases with the President of the Constitutional Court and the latter consents to inform the Moldovan president about their progress and finds excuses for actions taken. Such actions, compounded by suspicions regarding the political appointment of some judges of the Constitutional Court, are against legal provisions and dent the image and confidence in the work of the Constitutional Court. In all democracies, communication between constitutional court judges and parties or other stakeholders about pending cases is inadmissible and represents an interference in the work of the constitutional court. Moreover, in the Republic of Moldova, ordinary judges who have such a behavior risk even being dismissed.

The signatory organizations urge:

  1. the President of the Republic of Moldova to stop any actions undermining the independence of the Constitutional Court and any interference in the High Court’s activity;
  2. the Plenum of the Constitutional Court to take a stance on this situation and adopt appropriate measures to prevent similar situations in the future.

Signatory organizations:

  • Legal Resources Centre from Moldova (LRCM)
  • Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE)
  • Promo-LEX Association
  • The WatchDog.MD Community
  • Transparency International Moldova (TI Moldova)
  • Center for Policies and Reforms (CPR)
  • The Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT
  • Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER)
  • Oral History Institute of Moldova (IIOM)

The public call in English is avalaible HERE.

The public call in Romanian is available HERE.

 

PUBLIC CALL The civil society organizations call the Parliament to pass Draft Law No. 109 on Noncommercial Organizations in its final reading without amendments that could hinder the NGOs’ work

In March 2016, the Ministry of Justice started the work on a new Law on Noncommercial Organizations. The draft law was part of the National Action Plan for the implementation of the Association Agreement with the European Union for 2017 – 2019. The draft law was prepared by a working group-which also included civil society representatives-set up by the Ministry of Justice.

The new draft law transposes the best practice and standards concerning freedom of association, recommended by the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR. The draft law limits the possibilities for authorities to exert pressure on noncommercial organizations and excludes unjustified limitations on setting up nonprofits by persons from certain categories. In addition, the draft law simplifies the registration of noncommercial organizations and their rigid internal organizational structure imposed by current laws. The draft law does not require the repeated registration of noncommercial organizations and does not restrict foreign funding for them. As for political activities, the draft law completely prohibits noncommercial organizations from supporting election candidates and sets clear limits on the relationship between noncommercial organizations and political parties. The draft law also establishes the legal framework concerning the government financing or support for noncommercial organizations —a field that has been insufficiently regulated by current laws. The Ministry of Justice put the draft law to repeated public consultation and improved it based on the received feedback.

The draft law passed its first reading in Parliament on 3 May 2018. Since then, the draft law has garnered all required endorsements, including from the National Anticorruption Centre (NAC) and the relevant specialized committees. Although the enactment of the draft law in the final reading should have been a natural follow-up, the Parliament has been putting off the final reading for 22 months now.

The lack of a new legal framework on noncommercial organizations has perpetuated issues with the application of the legislation on noncommercial organizations. The March 2019 amendments intended to bring the Civil Code up to date and supposed to be voted along with the draft Law on Noncommercial Organizations added other difficulties, including the impossibility to set up the association form “the union of legal entities”. All these changes are provided for in the draft law in question. The failure to pass the new law also causes financial difficulties for noncommercial organizations. Currently, the Public Services Agency levies the same taxes on NGOs for certain types of services as on commercial legal entities, which is unreasonable.

The signatory organizations call the Parliament and all parliamentary groups:

  • To pass draft Law on Noncommercial Organizations No. 109 in the final reading as soon as possible but not later than by the end of March 2020;
  • To reject the amendments that can hinder the work of noncommercial organizations, especially those that limit freedom of expression or the noncommercial organizations’ possibility to advocate for public policies or to access foreign funds. Such limitations are incompatible with a genuinely democratic society and with the standards of the Council of Europe;
  • To consult civil society organizations about any proposed amendment to the draft law in a transparent and inclusive way. Since the draft law was prepared in collaboration with representatives of the civil society sector, we request that they be involved in the discussions related to the completion of the draft law for the second reading.

Signatory organizations:

  1. Legal Resources Centre of Moldova (LRCM)
  2. Amnesty International Moldova (AIM)
  3. Association of Independent Press (API)
  4. Expert-Grup
  5. Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE)
  6. The Community WatchDog.MD
  7. Contact Center
  8. The Association for Participatory Democracy “ADEPT”
  9. East Europe Foundation (EEF)
  10. Promo-LEX Association
  11. The Center “Partnership for Development”
  12. Independent Journalism Center (IJC)
  13. Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER)
  14. Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ)
  15. International Center “La Strada”
  16. Institute for Public Policy (IPP)
  17. IDIS Viitorul
  18. CPR-Moldova
  19. Soros Foundation -Moldova
  20. Institutum Virtutes Civilis
  21. Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims “Memoria”
  22. Center for Training and Organizational Consulting (CICO)

The document in English is available here:  

The document in Romanian is available here: 

Contact point: Ilie CHIRTOACA, Legal Resources Centre of Moldova (LRCM), tel. 022 843 601 or email ilie.chirtoaca@old2.old.crjm.org

https://www.slideshare.net/NicoletaCojuhari/public-call-the-civil-society-organizations-call-the-parliament-to-pass-draft-law-no-109-on-noncommercial-organizations-in-its-final-reading-without-amendments-that-could-hinder-the-ngos-work

 

The civil society organizations ask the Parliamentary Fractions to accept the amendments to the Draft Law no. 301 regarding the sanction of the acts motivated by hatred and prejudice

On 8 December 2016, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova approved, in first reading, the draft law no. 301 (the version combined with the project no. 277 of 20.06.2016) for the modification and completion of some legal acts regarding the regulation of the crimes motivated by prejudice.

The draft law no. 301 represents a set of legislative amendments to the Criminal Code and the Contravention Code, which refers first of all to the definition of the reasons for prejudice, to the revision of the basic offenses and the aggravating ones which concern the acts motivated by hatred and prejudice.

Subsequently, this bill was submitted to the Ministry of Justice for review. On 22 October 2019, public consultations were organized with representatives of civil society, members of parliamentary committees (Committee on Human Rights and Interethnic Relations, Committee for Legal Matters, Appointments, and Immunities) and representatives of the Ministry of Justice. During the consultations, Promo-LEX and Legal Resources Centre from Moldova presented an opinion regarding the bill with several recommendations.

Following the public consultation, the amendments to the draft law no. 301 were to be presented and discussed in parliamentary committees and factions in order to reach a general consensus.

The Committee for Legal Matters, Appointments, and Immunities will examine this draft law on 11 February 2020 for the second reading vote. Unfortunately, these proposed amendments were not introduced in the draft law to be examined by the Legal Commission on 11 February 2020.

In this regard, several civil society organizations reiterate the importance of accepting the amendments made by non-governmental organizations for the most effective application of the future provisions of the Criminal Code and the Contravention Code.

In the context of the introduction on the parliamentary agenda of the draft law no. 301, the signatory organizations

CALL for

The adoption, in the second reading of the draft law no. 301 to amend and supplement some legislative acts with the amendments proposed by the civil society organizations, taking into account the recommendations made on it by the national organizations in the public consultations of October 2019 and of the international organizations.