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Moldovan political elite does not comprehend the very existence of Gagauzia - Mikhail Formuzal

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Chisinau, December 2 ( INFOTAG ). Gagauzia Bashkan (Governor) Mikhail Formuzal has invited the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) to carry out a monitoring to see how efficiently or not the Gagauzia region realizes its autonomous status within the Republic of Moldova.

The head of the region's executive power branch attended the CLRAE Autumn Session in Strasbourg and took floor at the panel entitled "The Legal Status of an Autonomy in European Regions", and said, in particular, that even 14 years after the autonomous region's establishment, the Republic of Moldova's "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia" would not work.

Formuzal presumes the current problems with realization of the autonomy's plenary powers emerged through the fault of the central Moldovan government as well as the Gagauzia's previous political elite that ruled the region until recently.

Mikhail Formuzal stressed, autonomy's interests were defended slackly, and nobody actually cared to take consistent measures to develop the region. For instance, Article 18 in the said Law pertaining to Gagauzia budget formation was, and still is, fulfilled only partly. And Article 20 provisions were cancelled by the Moldovan Constitutional Court instead of updating the obsolete national legislation with the Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia.

"Such approach, being shown by the central Moldovan authorities, only confirms the need for further perfecting and dividing plenary powers between the center and the autonomy", stated the regional leader.

In his opinion, a whole package of vital-importance issues would not be settled between the central and regional authorities until now, such as, e.g., questions in the fields of lawmaking, Gagauzia's representation in the Moldovan Parliament, State Budget shaping (particularly capital investment), education, culture, mass media functioning, local self-governance organs, appointments of the heads of decentralized state structures of the Republic of Moldova functioning in Gagauzia.

"In 2003, on the initiative of the central Moldovan authorities, the regional law on political parties was cancelled. That law stipulated creation of regional parties as the basis for electing deputies to the Gagauzia Popular Assembly (parliament) and councilors to local councils. This fact demonstrates that the Moldovan political elite does not comprehend the very existence of Gagauzia", said Mikhail Formuzal.

He offered that the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe should organize a special mission to monitor how Gagauzia's special legal status is realized, and to outline problems and impediments in this process. Formuzal believes this could help the Republic of Moldova better implement European norms and standard in the country.