Members of the Moldovan Government, headed by Natalia Gavrilița, presented on Monday, August 8, the report of a year of activity, entitled “A year of government in solidarity with the people”. Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița spoke about the achievements of the government she leads and the plans they are working on. Members of the Cabinet of Ministers also spoke about their successes in each area and about future projects.

At the beginning of the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said that the government has limited leverage in the face of crises in the country because they would be “of a global nature”. Gavrilița repeated that “we are facing a hard winter with many challenges for which we are preparing now”.

“The world today is very different from the world when we took office. Many people are having a very hard time in our country, and we have limited leverage for the simple reason that the multiple crises we are struggling with are global in nature and affect even the most remote corners of the world, including countries far richer than Moldova.

When energy prices went up last autumn, we came up with a large package to compensate for the increased bills and we extended the number of beneficiaries. When our farmers were in difficulty, we managed to partially compensate the price of diesel and increased the subsidy fund by 60%. When our producers lost markets, we managed to increase export quotas to the EU for several products (…) We managed to start the reform of the justice system, to unblock foreign aid, to start large infrastructure and regional development projects (…) Our efforts were also seen abroad. The achievement of EU candidate country status reflects the credibility we enjoy after years of diplomatic isolation.

(…) We are not out of touch with reality, we have made visits to the territory. (…) We know that the measures we have put in place have not been able to take the burden of higher bills or higher prices for basic necessities off the shoulders of the most vulnerable. (…) Yes, we have a hard winter ahead of us with many challenges for which we are preparing now,” Gavrilița said.

Main statements by ministry representatives on achievements and plans

Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu

“The most important and historic achievement of the last year was the achievement of the EU candidate status for our country. It was not an easy thing, it was not a guaranteed thing for our country. A lot of work has been done to put Moldova on this firm path to EU membership.

(…) A key objective for our foreign policy is the interaction with our citizens abroad, with the diaspora. We are doing this through several directions of action. First, we continue to strengthen the legal basis that facilitates the lives of our citizens by signing several types of agreements: on social protection, on recognition of driving licences, on recognition of educational documents.

(…) In a few weeks we will introduce a single online booking system for citizens to make appointments at consulates. We have developed an e-consulate software to be launched next year”, said Minister Nicu Popescu.

Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Andrei Spînu

“We are working on the energy strategy for 2050. In autumn we will have the first concept for the energy strategy. Another important element is that we want diversification. We can no longer be a country dependent on a single energy Russia. (…) We are preparing for the coming winter, everyone understands that it will be a complicated winter and we are not hiding this. This is why we have signed a loan agreement with the EBRD, worth 300 million euros, which will allow us to create additional gas stocks and have resources to purchase gas in emergency situations. (…) We are working very seriously on the rehabilitation of the airport at Marculești and we will shortly present a report on this (…) We are working on the town planning code and we will launch it in the autumn for public consultation.

(…) We came out with this programme (to reduce natural gas consumption) not to scare, not to create panic, but to be prepared. We have a situation where the supplier, with whom we have a five-year contract, has already reduced or stopped gas supplies to many European countries, much richer and stronger than Moldova (…) It is fair to the citizens that we have this contingency plan, whatever the scenario might be. (…) Nobody wants education to go online. Next September-October, all children will go to school without any online education. We believe the same in November. A crisis situation might arise and if it does, we will make decisions according to the situation created. At the same time, we have a lot of schools that are not heated by gas and have an alternative. So they will not switch to online learning. We are going ahead with this plan to reassure citizens that the Government is ready to act,” said Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu.

Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration, Oleg Serebrian

“Throughout this year, there has been a continuous momentum in the negotiation process. We had 13 meetings of political representatives from both sides. (…) Some encouraging things have been achieved, 350 thousand inhabitants of the left bank of the Dniester are citizens of the Republic of Moldova, this process of regaining the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova has accelerated recently, which speaks of the fact that it is a process of social reintegration.

(…) In the public space there have been several criticisms addressed to Chisinau by the so-called Tiraspol authorities, that we have resorted to blockades. In reality, there have been certain shortcomings, but the closure of the central section of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border and the redirection of the flow of trade, including that of the Transnistrian region, through customs points controlled by the constitutional authorities could not fail to produce certain unintended syncopations.

(…) I have been twice to Cocieri and Molovata. I also spoke to the ferry administration. The subject was also raised in Brussels during my recent visit. (….) This is a priority project for the inhabitants of the Cocieri platform. It is often the only means of communication with the territory controlled by the constitutional authorities. The money has been promised, the feasibility study is practically done and we are counting very much on the fact that we will soon have a new ferry between Molovata and Cocieri. There are some technical problems with its transportation, but we will solve that in the course of time,” said Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian.

Deputy Prime Minister for Digitisation Iurie Țurcanu

“We managed to cheapen about 20 public services provided by the Electronic Government Agency. These cost optimizations came about because a number of corruption schemes involving several tick companies were stopped. As a result, some services have been made up to 65% cheaper, others are provided free of charge.

(…) We have developed and prepared for launch a new generation of mobile e-signature. Once it is certified by the Information and Security Service, it will go into production,” said Deputy Prime Minister for Digitisation Iurie Țurcanu.

Minister of the Interior Ana Revenco

“We have provided border crossing protection for half a million refugees and we continue to take care of the safety of tens of thousands of Ukrainians who continue to stay in the country (…) Even though we still have queues at the border, we have managed to overcome the crisis generated by the blocking of cargo and food transportation at the border.

(…) We have started to build bridges, which would mean that negotiations are already underway for the opening of new international border crossing points between Moldova and Romania,” said Interior Minister Ana Revenco.

Minister of Economy Sergiu Gaibu

“In the last year, Moldova has faced the highest number of crises since independence. Despite these difficulties, the national economy has made progress. The year 2021 ended with a 13.9% growth, and the first quarter of 2022 recorded an increase, albeit modest, of 1.1% compared to the same period of 2021. The industry, after a decline of minus 10.4% in April, recorded an increase of 13.2% in May, thus generating an increase of 2.6% for the first five months of this year,” said Minister Sergiu Gaibu.

Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco

“This year we have given independence to the prosecution, prosecutors, the judiciary. We have intensified the investigations against the exponents of all oligarchic clans. We have started the process of cleaning up the judicial system, the Pre-Vetting Commission has been set up. (…) A new Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, with experience as a prosecutor in the US, with a significant track record in handling corruption cases, was successfully elected.

(…) The process of cleaning up the system is more complicated, we started with the “Pre-Vetting”, we will finish by the end of the year with the self-administration bodies, at the beginning of the year we will start the reform of the CSJ, further on we will continue with the cleaning up of the remaining system. We are going from the top down. (…) At the end of the mandate we must have the whole judicial and prosecutorial system cleaned”, said Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance, Dina Rosca

“We are working on a series of measures in the area of salaries. from September budget employees will feel those salary increases. The priority activities of the Ministry of Finance are focused on the financial identification of those policy measures that would ensure the implementation of the action programme for the cold period of the year.

(…) The updated draft of the salary law we believe will be included in the implementation from January 1, but we will go with this draft together with the budget for 2023″, said the Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance, Dina Rosca.

Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco

“When I came to government the health system was the most tired, because it had a year and a half of pandemic behind it. We stepped in to manage the ongoing pandemic crisis.

(…) We have discussed with international partners and we are in the process of holding a series of tenders that will propose a modernization of the entire health system,” said Health Minister Ala Nemerenco.

Minister of Education and Research, Anatolie Topala

“The Ministry of Education and Research has been awarded a $5 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education Multiplication Fund to support the implementation of the 2030 Education Challenge Strategy Programme. It also doubled the one-time compensation for general education teachers and managers.

(…) The data we have shows that this year we have a much better intake, especially at stronger universities. The specialties of the future enjoyed great popularity,” said Minister of Education and Research Anatolie Topala.

Minister of Labour and Social Protection Marcel Spatari

“For next winter we have prepared a new mechanism for fair distribution of energy compensation. We have created the Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund. Now we are preparing the information system to be launched in October. In it we will collect data in order to offer next winter compensation directly on the bill, as we did last winter, but on much fairer criteria, according to the dynamics of energy prices.

(…) People will register on a platform, the platform will calculate, according to the data it will accumulate, the vulnerability category and the compensations will be offered according to the category. (…) We said we will give targeted compensation, but we will give it according to price to the vast majority of the population. People don’t have to worry that they won’t get compensation,” said Minister of Labour and Social Protection Marcel Spatari.

Minister of Culture Sergiu Prodan

“In the field of art and creative industry there have been several legislative initiatives, which have borne fruit in the approval of legislative amendments (…) The Ministry is in the process of drafting the regulation for the Cultural Voucher, for which 10 million lei are foreseen in the Ministry’s budget this year. We have introduced the notion of “houses of culture” in the culture law.

(…) The National Philharmonic is a project not only of the Ministry of Culture, but also of the whole society (…) During this year, with all the problems that have been encountered, not for a moment have we dropped the idea of building a new Philharmonic in Chisinau”, declared the Minister of Culture, Sergiu Prodan.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vladimir Bolea

“The size of agricultural education in Moldova in recent years was in a state of decline and the reform that the Ministry of Education initiated came to solve an immediate problem: stopping the decline and destruction of agricultural education in Moldova. This was done by transferring the Agrarian University, the three faculties, to the Technical University”, declared the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vladimir Bolea.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Iordanca-Rodica Iordanov

Minister of Defence Anatoly Nosatîi

“The Ministry of Defence continues the process of reorganisation of the National Army (…) Starting from 15 August this year, Moldovan military will participate in the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. We have also started negotiations with the EU on participation in the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and have prepared a contingent of engineers for possible deployment in Ukraine for humanitarian demining missions.

(…) Creating good living conditions for military and civilian personnel working in the defence system is a priority for the Ministry of Defence,” said Defence Minister Anatoly Nosatyi.

On 6 August 2021, the swearing-in ceremony of the government led by Natalia Gavrilița took place at the Presidency. At that time, the Gavrilița government announced that during the first months of its mandate it would prioritise four directions of activity: effective management of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the justice reform and anti-corruption package, increasing the population’s income and social protection of vulnerable groups, and restoring external financing.