Procedural violations recorded in most legislative initiatives
The Parliament of Moldova passed 34 bills in two days, while procedural violations were recorded in 30 of them, or 88.2% of the total, according to a monitoring report published by Promo-LEX.
According to Promo-LEX, mandatory documentation was missing for 30 bills before the start of the plenary sittings. The unpublished materials included six reports from the Committee on Economy, Budget and Finance, four reports from the Legal Committee for Appointments and Immunities, seven opinions from the General Legal Directorate and 13 amendments, objections and recommendations.
Other missing materials included two reports from the Committee on Social Protection, two from the Committee on Culture and Education, one from the Committee on Environment and six from the Committee on Foreign Policy.
The report separately notes that, in the case of 21 bills, the relevant committees approved their reports on the same day the drafts were submitted to the plenary for voting. Promo-LEX said this “raises doubts as to whether MPs had enough time to study the committee materials issued on the morning of the sitting in order to ensure an informed and conscious vote”.
Parliament rules require committee reports before voting
The report stresses that parliamentary regulations allow legislative initiatives to be included on the agenda only after the report of the standing committee is available. Observers describe the practice recorded during the sittings as one that reduces the transparency of decision-making.
One episode identified by Promo-LEX concerned the draft law amending Law No. 152/2006 on the National Institute of Justice. On 24 August, the document was included on the agenda for examination and adoption in the second reading. The following day, 25 August, it was put to a vote and adopted in the third reading, although observers noted that no proposal to supplement the agenda during the sitting had been formulated or approved.
The report states that “the procedural basis on which the draft was examined and voted on in the third reading remains unclear”.
During consideration of the same draft, MP I. Chiriac proposed an amendment to Article 42, paragraph 5², of Law No. 158/2008. The amendment would increase from two to three years the period during which a civil servant, after reaching the age of 63, may continue to hold a management position within an overall limit of seven years.
According to the report, this amendment affects the general regime of the civil service and does not fall within the subject or concept of the draft approved in the first reading.
The Promo-LEX findings show that the rapid adoption of legislation by the Parliament of Moldova was accompanied by repeated procedural violations, missing documents and unclear voting grounds. In practice, this raises questions about whether deputies were given the information needed to vote responsibly on laws affecting public institutions and the civil service.
