Title

Information report on the latest developments concerning local democracy in Moldova following the visit by the Institutional Committee’s Rapporteur to Chisinau on 1-2 March 2004 - CG/BUR (10) 103

a) the reorganisation of the territory into districts (rayoni) following the abolition of the regions (judets) created in 1998 (a move that was severely criticised by the Congress,see Recommendation 110 (2002));

b) the revision of the Local Public Administration Act (December 2002) in keeping with Council of Europe recommendations and the adoption of an action plan by the Council of Europe/European Commission and the Moldovan authorities in 2003 with a view to improving local self-government legislation and its implementation;

c) the adoption by the Congress of a highly critical report on the latest local elections (CG/Bur (10)19 - 2003). Marred as they were by violations of opposition candidates’ most elementary rights during the campaigning period, these elections were seen by Congress and other international observers as marking a step back for democracy in Moldova;

d) the reception by the Congress and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in late 2003 and early 2004, of various letters from representatives of the main local authorities associations in Moldova, expressing alarm at the centralising tendencies of central government, particularly with regard to the capital, Chisinau. These letters referred inter alia to a series of incidents in which the local press and local elected representatives were apparently subjected to pressure, intimidation and violence by the President of the Republic and the Government;

e) the invitation from the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the conference on “The Republic of Moldova in the Stability Pact – achievements and perspectives” hosted by the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the said Ministry.

2. On Monday 1 March 2004, the Rapporteur gave a speech in which he spoke of the Congress activities in South Eastern Europe and local democracy in Moldova. His contribution was well received, notably by Mr Busek, Special Coordinator of the Pact, and Ms Rhen, chair of Stability Pact Working Table I on democracy and human rights. In the section of his speech on local self-government and transfrontier co-operation, Mr Busek said that “decentralisation, empowering local and regional authorities is a central feature of European development. The Council of Europe, as well as its Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has done important work in this respect, also here in Moldova. Viable local and regional authorities are a part of a democratic society. Supporting decentralisation processes and thereby also enhancing cross-border cooperation on the local level is one of the priorities of the Stability Pact. But the preconditions have to be set by the respective governments. The recent decision to re-establish the system of rayoni – moving from 12 counties back to 32 much smaller and less efficient units – is a step into the wrong direction, as has been highlighted by the Council of Europe”.
Owing to the meetings schedule, the Rapporteur was unable to follow the other conference sessions. Mr Busek’s introductory speech and further details of the conference are available on the Stability Pact website (www.stabilitypact.org ).

III - Meetings about the situation with regard to local democracy in Moldova

3. At official meetings on 2 March (see programme, Appendix 1), the Rapporteur conveyed to the Moldovan authorities (in particular to Mr Tarlev, Prime Minister, and to Mr Iovv, first Vice Prime Minister) the Congress concerns over the following issues:

a) Barriers to the improvement and implementation of local government legislation under the action plan jointly adopted in 2003 by the Moldovan authorities, the Council of Europe and the European Commission (see Appendix 2).
Mr Iovv took note here of the letter sent by the Deputy Secretary General on 25 February 2004,expressing the Council of Europe’s wish to implement the above-mentioned action plan, as adopted by mutual agreement with the Moldovan authorities in 2003. The Rapporteur noted Mr Iovv’s promise to address a swift reply to this letter and his affirmation that the Moldovan authorities agreed for the most part with the chapters in the action plan and that a meeting with Council of Europe experts should be held in order to further discuss a number of points. This further discussion was apparently necessary because of comments made by the Ministry of Finance. At this point, the Rapporteur reminded Moldovan government officials that the action plan had been adopted by mutual agreement and that the only aspect of the plan that might possibly be open for renegotiation was the timetable for its implementation. The Rapporteur noted with surprise the reply of officials of the State Chancellery in the presence of Mr Iovv: “the Moldovan authorities [had] never adopted the action plan in question; in the working talks held in 2003 with the Council of Europe, they [had] agreed only to proposals”. The Rapporteur proceeded to raise the matter with the Prime Minister, who assured him that he would speak to the State Chancellery to ensure that the agreements were honoured. The Rapporteur thanked the Prime Minister, asking him to swiftly confirm this promise by following it up with an official letter. Further to the visit, on 17 March 2004, the Prime Minister of Moldova confirmed his promise in a letter addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (Appendix 3).

b) Parliamentary discussion, without any formal consultation of the local elected representatives concerned, of a draft law (prepared by the government) designed to substantially alter the structure of the capital and the powers of the Mayor of Chisinau
The Rapporteur managed to obtain a non-official copy of this draft law from State Chancellery officials, care of the first Vice Prime Minister¹. Upon initial reading, this text appears to call for the capital to be divided up into smaller entities and for the powers of the city’s mayor to be substantially curtailed. According to information received during the visit, the move is also politically motivated, being designed to damage the prospects of political adversaries in the general elections to be held before February 2005.

c) Parliamentary discussion of a draft law (prepared by the Government) designed to substantially alter the way associations representing local authorities are organised in Moldova.
According to information received from some local elected representatives encountered, this document seeks to impose a single, national association of local authorities from which a large number of (not favourable to the ruling party) local elected representatives would be excluded on political grounds. In particular, this draft is reportedly to be introduced in order to weaken the associations led by Mr Balan (National League of Mayors) and Mr Urechean (Federation of Local Authorities), who, through their repeated calls to the Council of Europe, seem to annoy the ruling party. The central government is said to be keen, therefore, to encourage and bolster the Association of Mayors and Local Authorities, currently led by Mr Vrabie, the independent head of one of the rayoni “ruled” by the communists. (Mr Perebinos is now the Executive Director of this association).

d) Failure to submit to the Council of Europe for opinion, despite the obligations entered into and despite being specifically asked to do so by the Secretary General, final versions of the laws recently promulgated by the President of the Republic on the status of local elected representatives and local finances.
In general, the Rapporteur noted that the Moldovan authorities concerned considered that sending draft laws (as prepared by the Government) to the Council of Europe delayed the passage of what was, in most cases, highly urgent legislation. With specific regard to the two laws mentioned above, the Rapporteur noted the observation by the first Vice Prime Minister who stressed that the recommendations made by the Council of Europe experts were too extensive to be rapidly incorporated in the texts to be examined by Parliament and that they would be taken into account in the future. State Chancellery officials were anxious to point out that the above-mentioned experts’ comments on the original draft law on the status of local elected representatives had, in any case, mostly been heeded.

e) Suspension of broadcasts of the Euro TV television station and the Antena C radio station
Through meetings with the directors of the above-mentioned stations and with the President of the Council for Audiovisual, the Rapporteur learnt that the decision to suspend the broadcasting licences had been taken at a time when Chisinau municipal council (which owns the stations) was discussing draft statutes designed to confer legal personality on these entities, in keeping with the recommendations of the Council for Audiovisual. This lent weight to the Rapporteur’s suspicions that suspending the licences of the stations in question had been not only a disproportionate measure but also an untimely one. Despite assurances from the President of the Council for Audiovisual that licences would shortly be issued, the Rapporteur reiterated his concerns because the central administrative authority responsible for registering the new statutes prepared by the municipal council has raised fresh obstacles that might prevent these licences from being awarded. In view of the above, the Rapporteur asked the Prime Minister to make every endeavour to ensure that the situation with regard to the media in Chisinau was resolved swiftly and in the interest of the community at large. As reply to this request, in his letter to the Secretary General of 17 March 2004 (see above), the Prime Minister stated that “The Municipal Council of Chisinau adopted in final versions the statutes of mass-media institutions of the municipality – i.e. radio station “Antena C” and television station “Euro TV Chisinau”. Thus, their statutes were brought in conformity with the current legislation and in a couple of days time they are to be registered with the State Registration Chamber (…).” On 18 March 2004, the Rapporteur was informed that in spite of these commitments, the above-mentioned Chamber refused the registration of the stations in question.

4. In view of the above, one might have supposed that, following the Congress highly critical report on the elections (see above), the Moldovan authorities would make every endeavour to ensure that an effective, independent local public administration, based on an appropriate legislative framework (negotiated with the representative associations and having due regard to the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government) was finally put in place. So far, however, that has not been the case.

5. On the basis of the results obtained in the local elections², since June 2003 the presidential, government and parliamentary authorities, despite promises made by the Prime Minister to the Congress in November 2002 (repeated to the Rapporteur on 2 March during his visit and in the letter addressed to the Secretary General on 17 March last), seem determined to strengthen the vertical powers structure on which the territorial reform is based. Thanks to the seats won in the rayoni and to the confusion over the division of powers and responsibilities, the central government is effectively managing to impose its directives on virtually every local authority across the country.

6. Deprived in practice, of all financial and budgetary independence and of all decision-making power with regard to their administrative structures, and hamstrung by highly restrictive delegated tasks, the municipalities are more dependent on central government than ever. This dependence, coupled with the developments described in this report, is contributing, at least in practice, to a growing centralisation of executive and administrative power in the country.

7. Various representatives of the international community encountered in Chisinau said that local democracy was a key link in the wider system of democracy in Moldova and that in the coming months, all the players involved must take firm, sustained and co-ordinated action to prevent the country from effectively putting itself beyond the pale of the democratic standards advocated by the Council of Europe. To this end, the Rapporteur has established highly constructive contacts with the Head of the OSCE Mission in Moldova, Ambassador Hill. In the interest of closer co-ordination between the various international agencies worried about the situation in Moldova, the Rapporteur suggests that Mr Hill be invited to a forthcoming meeting of the Congress.

8. In view of the information contained in this report, the Bureau may decide to prepare a possible 4^th monitoring report on local democracy in the Republic of Moldova. The situation in Moldova will also be discussed by the Institutional Committee of the Congress on 23 April 2004.

9. In order to make the best possible decision, the Rapporteur feels that at its meeting on 22 March 2004, the Bureau might like to ascertain whether, following the Rapporteur’s recent visit, the Moldovan authorities have taken any practical measures yet to address all the problems raised in this report, namely:
formal, final acceptance of the terms of the action plan drawn up with the Council of Europe and the European Commission in 2003, and the concrete commencement of activities designed to implement this plan, or at least the most pressing points, as identified by the Directorate of Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe Secretariat;
b) immediate, official despatch to the Council of Europe of all the draft laws prepared by the government and/or parliament concerning local and regional self-government, and of any laws adopted and promulgated which directly or indirectly affect the interests of local authorities in Moldova;
c) the immediate resumption of broadcasting by Antena C and Euro TV.

Ambassador Vladimir Philipov, Special Representative of the Secretary General in Moldova, and his team for their highly effective support during his visit to the country;

Mr Riccardo Priore, Head of the Institutional Committee Secretariat, and Mrs Irina Blonina, member of the above-mentioned Secretariat, for their assistance in the preparation of this report.

Appendix 1

Programme of the Council of Europe Congress delegation visit (1- 2 March 2004, Chisinau)

Strasbourg, 16 December 2003

Joint Programme between the European Commission and the Council of Europe to Strengthen Democratic Stability in Moldova

CONFERENCE “DECENTRALISATION IN MOLDOVA: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS”

The conference on “Decentralisation in Moldova: Recent Developments and Future Trends” brought together the representatives of central, rayon and local governments, representatives of the main local authority associations as well as local NGO representatives engaged in strengthening local democracy. The debates were organised in several workshops focused on the key challenges which decentralisation still has to face in the Republic of Moldova (please see the programme of the conference in Appendix 3). After a very lively 2-day discussion the participants in the conference and the experts agreed on the following action plan set out below, whose aims are as follows:
identify the challenges (problems) which decentralisation still has to face in the Republic of Moldova;
lay down a set of practical measures which have to be taken in response to the above challenges;
identify the respective roles of different stakeholders.
The action plan is based on a number of general conclusions which were summarised by Professor Robert Hertzog from the University of Strasbourg (France), whose report is reproduced in Appendix 1 to the action plan.

The participants also launched the discussion about the promotion of institutional dialogue between the State and local authorities. Some guidelines concerning the role that the local authority associations could play in developing this dialogue are laid down in a report by Mr Claude Casadrande, municipal councillor in Etréchy (France) and expert of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe of the Council of Europe, reproduced in Appendix 2 to the action plan.

The action plan was amended by the key Moldovan local government stakeholders at the meeting of round table on ‘Strengthening local democracy in Moldova’ held on 21-23 October 2003.

CHALLENGE 1: Promote a balanced distribution of responsibilities between different levels of government

Specific Problem / Objective:
The law on local public administration defines the functions of first and second level local authorities; there are several overlapping responsibilities assigned to both levels; there is a need to concretise these functions by identifying specific tasks which local authorities have to perform.
The sectoral legislation has to set standards according to which local services will have to be provided.
The local authorities’ delegated tasks are defined in too broad terms; as a rule, local authorities’ delegated responsibilities have to be well defined management responsibilities.

Measures to be taken:
a) Perform a study of the implementation of the existing responsibilities of districts and communes. In particular,
- identify the main functions and specific tasks assigned to the districts and communes;
- distinguish between regulatory and service provision functions;
- identify the standards set by the sectoral legislation for the provision of key services;
b) Perform a study of the delegated responsibilities. In particular verify to which extent the regulations governing delegated responsibilities
- contain clear indications for local authorities with respect to implementing the specific tasks;
- provide the necessary financial resources, thus laying the basis for “result-oriented supervision”.
c) Amend the existing legislation on the basis of the results of the studies.

Implementation Technique
1. Jan-Feb 04: Set up a working group bringing together all the domestic local government stakeholders (in particular, the representatives of all the existing local authority associations and academic / research institutions). [State Chancellery and Council of Europe]
2. Feb-April 04: Define the concept of the studies to be performed. Commission and perform the studies. [Working group]
3. May 04: Forward the studies to the Council of Europe experts for appraisal; hold a joint meeting with the Council of Europe experts. [State Chancellery and Working Group]
4. June-July 04: Draft the necessary amendments to the legislation in consultation with the Council of Europe. [Experts to be appointed in consultation with the Working Group]

CHALLENGE 2: Promote sound inter-budgetary relations between different levels of government

Specific Problem / Objective:
The assigned financial resources seem to be insufficient in many cases to local authorities’ spending needs
The existing legislative arrangements for calculating and distributing state grants do not seem to be objective, transparent and clear for local and rayon authorities; the existing resource-sharing arrangements do not seem to ensure a fair distribution of resources at the level of the districts
Local authorities’ room for manoeuvre in the management of their financial resources appears to be insufficient
Financial and budgetary management seems to be subject to unnecessarily complex bureaucratic procedures

Measures to be taken:
a) Perform a study of the financial resources of district and local authorities with a view to
- assessing the level of resources available to individual authorities (including both, own resources, and transfers);
- identify those regulatory and service provision functions which could be effectively performed by each level of government and each type of authority in accordance with its financial strength.
b) Perform a study of the existing financial arrangements for local government. In particular,
- check whether the tax-sharing arrangements are based on an objective formula, thus making the financial arrangements more predictable and consolidating the revenues of local and rayon authorities;
- make suggestion of how to eliminate, as far as possible, the “derivation principle” from the financial arrangements for local government as a criterion for sharing out business and value added taxation, thus averting the risk of aggravating horizontal fiscal imbalances between local authorities;
- make suggestion of how to prevent, as far as possible, the districts from playing a role in defining the amount of grants to be transferred to local authorities; this however should not be an obstacle to the districts actually performing the transfer of grants calculated at national level according to objective criteria; in the medium term, study the possibility of eliminating the intermediary authorities from the transfer chain;
- look into the ways of improving the efficiency of the existing financial equalisation system;
- seek ways of increasing local authorities’ own fiscal resources; study possible co-operation between local and rayon authorities and the state agencies in charge of collecting local taxes;
- suggest how to replace, as far as possible, earmarked grants by block grants to local and rayon authorities for the implementation of certain responsibilities (e.g. education, health care etc.) thus giving to the local and rayon authorities a degree of discretion in the management of the service within the limits of the available grant as well as in accordance with the nationally set standards;
- consider the possibility of developing a uniform legislation governing public budgeting (Budgetary Code);
- simplify reporting procedures and avoid unnecessary bureaucratic efforts.
c) Amend the existing legislation in accordance with the results of the studies.

Implementation Technique
1. Jan-Feb 04: Set up a special group of experts responsible for analysing the existing financial arrangements. The group could be supervised by the Working group set up under Objective 1 above. [State Chancellery and Council of Europe]
2. Feb-May 04: Define the concept of the studies to be performed. Commission and perform the studies. [Working group]
3. June-July 04: Forward the studies to the Council of Europe experts for appraisal; hold a joint meeting with the Council of Europe experts. [State Chancellery and Working Group]
4. Sept-Nov 04: Draft the necessary amendments to the legislation in consultation with the Council of Europe [Experts to be appointed in consultation with the Working Group]

CHALLENGE 3 Ensure effective administrative supervision over local authorities’ action

Specific Problem / Objective
A- Ensure appropriate functioning of the supervisory mechanisms
Ensure better access to judicial protection

B- Ensure that local and rayon elected representatives and local and central government staff receive appropriate training in legal arrangements for administrative supervision

Measures to be taken:
A - Appraise and amend the relevant sectoral legislation in the light of the provisions of the law on local public administration governing administrative supervision. In particular:
- make sure that the relevant sectoral legislation is compatible with the new supervisory mechanisms established by the law on local public administration;
- set out clear rules governing the procedure of administrative supervision; define the structure of the supervisory authorities, define the geographic area of responsibility of the regional branches of the state chancellery; distribute the responsibilities between the State Chancellery and the State sectoral bodies in performing legality supervision and supervision over expediency; define the responsibilities of State sectoral bodies in performing “result-based supervision” over delegated responsibilities; elaborate a strategy for performing legality supervision and identify priority areas of supervision;
- ensure the implementation of the right of local authorities and citizens to challenge the decisions of public authorities;

B- a) Define, in consultation with local authorities’ associations, a strategy for awareness-raising and training of the local elected representatives and local and central government staff
b) Raise the capacity of local administrations to protect their interests in courts.

Implementation Technique:
A- 1. Jan-Feb 04: Set up a special group of experts responsible for analysing the existing arrangements for administrative supervision and judicial protection of local authorities. The group could be supervised by the Working group set up under Objective 1 above. [State Chancellery and Council of Europe]
2. Feb-April 04: Define the concept of the appraisal to be performed. Commission and perform the appraisal. [Working group]
3. May 04: Forward the appraisal to the Council of Europe together with the translation of the relevant sectoral legislation; hold a joint meeting with the Council of Europe experts. [State Chancellery and Working Group]
4. June-July 04: Draft the necessary amendments to the legislation in consultation with the Council of Europe. [Experts to be appointed in consultation with the Working Group]

B- 1. May 04: Set up a working party brining together the representatives of the State Chancellery, main training agencies and local authority associations; [State Chancellery and Council of Europe]
2. June-July 04: Elaborate a strategy for training local elected representatives and staff in the new supervisory mechanisms and define appropriate training programmes; [Working group]
3. Sept 04: Set general guidelines for training institutions in accordance with the strategy. [Working group]

Specific problem / Objective
Clarify local elected representatives’ rights and duties
Bring the status of local elected representatives into line with the European standards

Measures to be taken:
a) Harmonise the law on the status of local elected representatives with the provisions of the law on local public administration; in particular:
- extend the rules governing the status of local elected representatives to the mayors, vice-mayors, presidents and vice-presidents of the districts;
- study the possibility for the mayors and councillors of first-level local authorities to exercise the mandate of a councillor at rayon level;
b) Study the possibility of changing arrangements for the election of the mayor and of the vice-mayor introducing either a direct election of both the mayor and the vice-mayor, or an indirect election of the mayor and of the vice mayor by the local council from among the councillors.
c) Amend the law on the status of local elected representatives as suggested by the Council of Europe experts eliminating, in particular, any reference to moral duties and obligations as well as limiting the role of the local elected representatives in performing supervisory and investigative functions.

Implementation Technique:
1. Jan-Feb 04: Draft the necessary amendments to the legislation on the basis of the Council of Europe’s appraisal. [Experts to be appointed by the Working group]
2. Mar-Apr 04: Forward the new draft amendments to the Council of Europe for appraisal. [State Chancellery and Working Group]
3. June-July 04: Finalise the amendments in consultation with the Council of Europe. [Experts to be appointed in consultation with the Working Group]

CHALLENGE 5. Promote institutional dialogue between State and local authorities

A- Engage in regular consultations with local authorities on the development of the legislative framework for local government
B- Ensure co-ordination in the activities of different existing local authority associations
C- Strengthen the role of local authority associations in providing services to their members

A - Introduce permanent institutional mechanisms of consultation with local authorities on different aspects of local democracy (e.g. local government finance, delegated responsibilities, supervision, training, etc.)

B - Engage in consultations with all the local authorities concerned on setting up co-ordination structures (or setting up an umbrella organisation covering the different local authorities’ associations)

C - Conduct regular training for the staff of local authority associations on providing services to the member local authorities (especially in the field of legal advice, project elaboration and management etc.)

A- Establish a group of experts brining together the key local government stakeholders with a view to defining the concept of the most suitable mechanisms of consultation on the basis of the guidelines developed by the Steering Committee for Local and Regional Democracy of the Council of Europe [State Chancellery, local authority associations, Council of Europe] Early 2004

B- The consultation mechanisms have to be established by the local authority associations themselves [Local authority associations] To be defined by the local authority associations

C- [Local authority associations in co-operation with various training providers] To be defined by the local authority associations

In the spirit of good cooperation initiated a year ago, when with the assistance of the Council of Europe experts the Law nr.123-XV of 18 March 2003 on local public administration was elaborated, I take this opportunity to inform you about the evolution of local democracy in Moldova and its legal basis.

The aforementioned Law sets the general framework of local administration functioning in Moldova, but for its application there were necessary other subsidiary normative acts. Therefore, for development of the legal basis in this field, the Moldovan authorities elaborated and presented for expertise to the Council of Europe the draft of the Law on Local Public Finances and the draft amendments to the Law on the Status of Local Elected Representative. The conclusions of the experts submitted on 5 November 2003, for which I express sincere gratitude of the Moldovan authorities, served as an extremely useful support for improving the Law nr.768-XVI of 2 February 2000 on the Status of Local Elected Representative. This law was amended by the Parliament on 4 December, 2003 in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Europe. Mrs. Ostapciuc, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova has already informed you on this matter in a letter addressed to you in January 2004. Nevertheless, for a conformity exercise, please find attached the final text of this law.

In the same context, I would also like to inform you that on 16 October 2003 the Parliament passed the Law on Local Public Finances. Unfortunately, we have to recognise that this law was passed without a prior Council of Europe expertise. This urgency however was dictated by the absence of a legal framework in the field of public finances, a situation that made impossible functioning of the newly created administrative-territorial unit (raion) budgets after the general local elections in May 2003 on the basis of the new legislation on public local administration.

In the light of the recommendations made by the Council of Europe experts in their Legal Opinion, we realize that we have to essentially improve the financial and budgetary system of the local public finances. This step offers new perspectives for cooperation, inclusively the draft Plan of Actions on strengthening local democracy in Moldova, elaborated in the framework of the Conference “Decentralisation in Moldova: recent events and future trends”, which took place in Chisinau, on 8-9 July 2003. Implementation of this Plan was discussed with the Council of Europe experts at the Round Table on 21-23 October 2003, in Chisinau. On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Moldova I confirm the availability to continue our cooperation on its basis. In order to maintain the collaboration between the Council of Europe and the Republic of Moldova, I would suggest to convene a bilateral meeting of experts to identify specific actions and a timetable for their implementation, as well as to proceed to their practical enforcement, as it was proposed by Mrs. Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in her letter of 25 February 2004, and Mr. Guy De Vel, Director General for Legal Affairs in his recent letter of 9 March 2004.

Recently, in order to bring the existent national legal framework into conformity with the Law nr.123-XV of 18 March 2003 on Local Public Administration, the Government elaborated and presented to the Parliament for examination the draft Law on Chişinău Municipality Statute. The draft was handed over to the CLRAE Rapporteur, Mr. Pascal Mangin on the occasion of his recent visit in Moldova. The Government elaborated as well the draft Law on Associations of Local Public Administration Authorities. I take this opportunity to present both drafts (as appended) and officially ask for the Council of Europe expertise.

I would like to assure you that I will personally supervise the fulfillment of the commitment to present to the Council of Europe final versions of laws promulgated in the field of local public administration and of the reports that would reflect their conformity with the recommendations of the Council of Europe experts.

Finally I take this possibility to inform you that on 9 March 2004, the Municipal Council of Chisinau adopted in final versions the statutes of mass-media institutions of the municipality – i.e. radio station “Antena C” and television station “Euro TV Chisinau”. Thus, their statutes were brought in conformity with the current legislation and in a couple of days time they are to be registered with the State Registration Chamber. This will offer the Broadcasting Coordinating Council a legal ground to authorize resumption of emission, suspended on 3 February 2004.

While believing in the possibility of new impetuses to the cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and the Council of Europe in the field of local democracy, I ask you to accept, Secretary General, the assurances of my highest considerations.

² The Communist Party won 47% of the votes – municipalities and districts combined.