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According to the Memorandum on Freedom of the Press in Moldova for May 3, 2020 – May 3, 2021, released on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day by the Independent Journalism Center and other media-related organizations, the legal framework “has been neither supplemented by new laws necessary for the sector, nor adjusted to the needs of the sector,” and some legislative amendments proved to be “dangerous and contrary to community standards.”
The Memorandum contains a number of recommendations to the Government and the Parliament, which, if implemented, would help protect and encourage free media, in accordance with the principles of a democratic society. Among other things, it is recommended to resume the activities of the Working Group for the improvement of media legislation, which should engage in implementing the National Concept for Media Development; reducing the influence of politics on the media by expanding the sector of independent media; implementing the legal and economic public policy to ensure fair and transparent competition conditions for media outlets; developing media pluralism; revealing any threat or aggression in relation to the media; and so on.
The IJC sent the document to the Parliament and the Government. Subsequently, the latter filed a request to the Ministry of Justice, which is supposed to take over the competences related to the media sector.
The letter signed by State Secretary Tatiana Tverdun says that the authority “appreciates and supports the initiative of media NGOs to amend the legislation in terms of protecting the rights and freedoms of journalists, promoting fair competition, local media products, autonomy from political parties, as well as transparency of media funding sources.” Officials also took note of “the proposal to develop and promote a coherent regulatory framework in order to exclude gaps and contradictions currently existing in the legislation, as well as inconsistent practices in its interpretation and application.”
However, the representatives of the Ministry of Justice noted that the proposals in the Memorandum “will be carefully examined and analyzed and, where appropriate, included into future draft regulatory acts that will be promoted by the Ministry of Justice,” but “only after the inauguration of the new Government.”
Tatiana Tverdun noted that the current mandate of the Government is limited to public administration, and it is not entitled to adopt and present to the Parliament for examination draft regulatory acts and draft policies, nor to issue opinions on legislative initiatives, including draft laws. “In this context, we reiterate that the Ministry of Justice remains open to cooperation and will contribute to the development and promotion of regulatory acts for the media sector, as well as to the finalization of draft regulatory acts prepared by actors that have the right to legislative initiative at the stage of their legal review and evaluation, according to the procedures provided by Law no. 100/2017 on regulatory acts,” the ministry officials concluded.
