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On Wednesday, 2 April, the Parliamentary Committee for Culture, Education, Science, Youth, Sport and Mass Media again postponed the voting procedure for selection of the six members of the Teleradio-Moldova Supervisory Board (SB), after its members representing the Pro-European Coalition asked for more time to study the candidates.
The Committee heard the 12 candidates on Tuesday, but postponed voting to Wednesday. However, on that day several of its members again asked for additional time to make their decision.
“We, for example, haven’t had the opportunity to discuss the candidates even within our parliamentary group. We would like to discuss the candidates at another meeting,” asked Oleg Tulea, MP representing the Democratic Party.
A similar proposal came from Valeriu Saharneanu, an MP representing the Liberal Reformatory Party, who justified it by the fact that he had only recently joined the Committee and needed more time.
MP Maria Ciobanu of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova also said she needed more time to make a decision. “I prefer examining candidate’s applications privately, and with the answers I received yesterday I will able to form an opinion as to who truly deserves to become member of the Supervisory Board.”
MPs representing the Liberal Party and the Party of Communists criticized this postponement and the fact that the candidates would also be discussed within parliamentary groups.
“It is, in fact, strange that the candidates that were to be discussed within the Committee and had to be apolitical, are now discussed within parliamentary groups. It is something trumped up. I think we had enough time to listen, to ask questions and decide. Even if parliamentary groups need to discuss, it should be done before the Committee meeting, and not after,” said Corina Fusu, MP representing the Liberal Party.
The head of the Committee announced that the voting procedure would take place on one of the following days, but the exact date was not set.
On Tuesday, the Committee listened to the programs of the 12 candidates, who had been selected by the Broadcasting Coordinating Council. The majority of them spoke for the modernization of the institution’s management and of the programs broadcast by Radio Moldova and Moldova 1, as well as for reduction of political influence on them. After the Committee selects the six candidates for membership in the SB, they shall be voted by the Parliament. The TRM Supervisory Board has been non-functional since December 2013, when the mandates of six of the nine members expired.
