NALAS

Access of vulnerable groups to services of water supply and sanitation was the theme of the round table that took place at the initiative of the Congress of local Authorities of Moldova on April 17, 2013 in CALM premises. The event hosted over 20 women mayors members of CALM Women Mayors Network.

On April 16, 2013, in Chisinau at the initiative of CALM in partnership with the GIZ Moldova was organized the roundtable Inter-municipal Cooperation for improvement of local public services of water supply and sanitation: from theory to practice.

On April 16, 2013 CALM Executive Director Mr. Viorel Furdui and CALM Programme Coordinator Mr. Alexandru Osadci met with Parliament Speaker Mr. Marian Lupu. At the meeting was discussed a broad spectrum of topics while the main focus was on Local Public Finance Reform and its unacceptable delay.

On April 11, 2013 within Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova premises was held the meeting of CALM Commission for local public services. The event was organized in the context of registration in the Parliament of the draft law nr. 122 from 18. 03. 2013 with regard to water supply and sanitation and its preparation for approval on first reading.

During 9-10 April, 2013 the Delegation of Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova headed by CALM President Mrs. Tatiana Badan participated in the work of the 3rd Assises of Decentralised Cooperation for development co-organized by the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission in Brussels. With this occasion CALM submitted an Official Address to organizers and participants of the EU Assises of Decentralized Cooperation.

CALM is actively involved in developing new Laws related to LPA domain and amending the existing ones. Whenever a ministry, parliament committee, public agency or Local Authority is coming with proposals for amending laws related to LPA domain or comes with law initiatives, CALM is providing, on permanent basis, its legal opinion resulted from the consultations with its members.

On 29 March 2013 in Ungheni District Council took place the meeting of the Association of District Presidents within the CALM. The aim of the meeting, at which participated CALM leadership and Distric Presidents, was to discuss the most recent problems and developments that are faced by Local Public Administration.

On 29 March 2013 in Ungheni District Council took place the meeting of the Association of District Presidents within the CALM. The aim of the meeting, at which participated CALM leadership and Distric Presidents, was to discuss the most recent problems and developments that are faced by Local Public Administration.

On 28 March 2013 Congress of Local Authorities in Moldova in cooperation with UNICEF Moldova organized a round table The need in statistical data to assess the impact of decentralization on the LPA. The aim of the round table was to present the results of the policy study with the same title, which was aimed at the analysis of the situation and drawing up proposals for improving the process of data collection and monitoring within the Small Area Deprivation Indicators (SADI) database, as well as their dissemination process through DevInfo software platform.

During 19-21 March 2013 CALM Delegation consisting of 20 mayors plus National Delegation of Moldova – 5 persons (mayors and districts presidents) participated in the work of 24th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

On February 12, 2013 in CALM’s office took place the meeting between the Ambassador of Hungary in Republic of Moldova, H.E. Dr. Varga György and CALM leadership. The objective of the meeting was to get acquainted and to establish constructive long term relationships. During the meeting was discussed the actual situation in local public administration both in Republic of Moldova and Hungary, as well were found common grounds that can be useful for future collaboration. CALM found out about similar Associations in Hungary and possibility for establishing contacts with them. Also mayors that were present at the meeting expressed their great interest for twinning opportunities with municipalities from Hungary. In this respect CALM will collect a database on interested municipalities. A separate subject was facilitation of Schengen visa issuance procedures for CALM members by the consulate of Hungary that hosts the Common Application Centre for 16 countries most of them members of Schengen Zone.

On February 12, 2013 CALM representatives had a productive and fruitful meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Finance over the amendment of the Law on Local Public Finance. The major subject was introduction in Republic of Moldova of the Personal Income Tax (PIT) collected and shared at the place of residence instead of actual PIT collected at the employer’s registration address. At the same time CALM is working closely for amending the Law on Local Public Finance with the Parliament Committee on Public Administration and Regional Development. Besides PIT lots of amendments are envisaged the main the main accent being on changes in the transfers system from Central level directly to LPA of level 1 instead of transfers Center - Level 2 (districts) – Level 1 (municipalities) and considerable financial resources were not reaching their final destination. For years we talk about these changes and the political will was not there. Now the situation changed both in Government’s mind and will so CALM is acting urgently and decisively in order not to lose the momentum.