The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party from Moldova (PLDM), Deputy Vlad Filat, was the protagonist of a sitting of the Press Club from Balti held on Friday, April 18th.
The sitting focused on several subjects of interest such as: the European integration of the Republic of Moldova, the effects of laws adopted by the Parliament in term of combating corruption, problems connected with press freedom and freedom of speech. Deputy Vlad Filat mentioned that, despite the fact the integration in the European Union denotes both providing rights and issuing some obligations, many citizens of the Republic of Moldova do not understand the essence of the European integration process, considering it just as the freedom of circulation to be able to go abroad for work or for gaining more money. Filat told journalists about the conditions issued by Chisinau in the context of conclusion of the Agreement of small cross-border traffic, a document proposed by Bucharest. „The accession to EU is a durable path. We should speak less about accession and focus mainly on doing as much as possible in this context”, Filat asserts.
Referring to corruption phenomenon, Vlad Filat declared that the parliamentary activities in this context are not enough and this is due to the fact that the Republic of Moldova is just called a parliamentary republic. In reality, the Moldovan state is a presidential republic. “Laws adopted by the Parliament often have an opposite application character. The competences of the Parliament to check the application of laws cannot be put into practice due to the fact that PCRM owns the majority in the legislative, and the Parliamentary Commission which deals with the monitoring of the Centre of Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption has no lines of influence, Vlad Filat added.
The Press Club from Balti is administered by DECA-press Agency.
The sittings of PCB are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the financial sources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). PCB was created in 1999.

A sitting of the Press Club from Balti was organized on Friday, April 18th, in the open air. The sitting dealt with the issue “Moldo-Romanian cross-border cooperation within the project “Prut – a river for our children”.
The sitting was held on the occasion of the organization of the exhibition of art and ecology „Palma de lut”, organized by the Association „Ozon” from Balti and NGO „Aquaterra” from Iasi, as well as by „Clubul Mesterului Popular” from Balti. The exhibition lasted for two days. It is one of the elements of the above-mentioned projects.
According to the director of the project “Prut – a river for our children”, Ana Davideanu, the European funds PHARE CPC are directed to the cross-border cooperation and denote the existence of a partner from Romania and another partner from the Republic of Moldova. „The Ecological Association „Aquaterra” from Iasi has already got experience in cross-border cooperation. It implemented ten projects of this kind so far. The period before the approval of more complex cross-border projects can be sometimes equivalent to more than one year. For educational projects, it is less difficult to get financing from European funds”, Ana Davideanu declared.
The leader of the Association „Ozon” from Balti, Dinu Cjocaru, obtaining financing for a project from European funds is difficult, because the project must have a clear goal, a practical application, and the expenditures must be justified, because there are different serious controls of the amount of expenditures. This thing is obvious because the European funds are the public money of the European community.
The Press Club from Balti is administered by DECA-press Agency.
The sittings of PCB are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the financial sources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). PCB was created in 1999.

More than ten municipal councillors and representatives of the town hall of Balti and journalists from nine local and national informing media gathered together on Friday, at the sitting of the Press Club of Balti, where they discussed about the activity of the local forum in the past eight months.
The sitting brought together exponents of the main political factions from Balti Municipal Council (CMB), non-affiliated and independent councillors. Each of them expressed his opinion regarding the way the municipal worked in the period after the local elections from summer 2007.
According to the secretary of CMB, Irina Serdiuc, the activity is quite efficient, despite the fact there were also some conflicts among councillors. All this time, ten sittings have been organized where 526 decisions have been adopted.
Within the sitting of the press club, the councillors from the opposition accused their colleagues from the communist majority faction of the fact that it had refused to establish an efficient partnership within the forum. In their turn, communists assert that, for having a constructive dialogue with the opposition, they must give up their ambitions and populism.
At the same time, some opposition councillors were dissatisfied with the fact their proposals were denied by the communist councillors and the activity of some subdivisions of the town hall record some disorders.
In another context, some councillors declared that the local press provided too little space to the activity of CMB.
In their turn, journalists issued some obstacles in their relation with the authorities.
For example, the correspondent of the Public Company „Teleradio-Moldova” (TRM) declared that the policemen from the entrance of the town hall regularly limit their access to civil servants. Even the identity card from TRM doesn’t have influence on the policemen, the journalist said. Ciobanu complained about the fact that it is difficult for him to work in Balti because most civil servants speak Russian, and “the interviews for „Radio Moldova” are accepted mostly if they in the state language”.
The press club from Balti is administered by DECA-press Agency. The sittings of CPB are supported by Eurasia Foundation from financial sources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). CPB was created in 1999.

A training for the journalists from Balti was organized on Friday, January 18th. The topic discussed at the training was „Investigative journalism and combatting corruption”, and the moderator was ar Cornelia Cozonac, president of the Journalistic Investigations Centre (CIN).
Journalists have been familiarized with the principles, tendencies and performances of investigative journalism, the strategy of realization of a journalistic investigation, its stages and difficulties which may appear while carrying out the investigation itself. The participants at the training identified potential subjects for investigation typical of Balti town such as: corruption in schools, boarding schools, city hall, police.
Cornelia Cozonac (photo) explained the best and the only method of getting information is interviewing the sources, as well as requiring official information of public interest. The detailed documentation in making investigative reporting is the most important one, Cozonac mentioned.
The training was held within the Press Club from Balti, which is administered by DECA-press Agency.
The PCB sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the financial sources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida).
PCB was created in 1999.

The Military Prosecution of Balti will intensify its cooperation with journalist in 2008. This is what the adjunct military Prosecutor from Balti, mayor Iurie Caraman, said during a sitting of the Local Press Club.
On Thursday, the office declared that the Military Prosecution from Balti is aware of the need of information and that there is not impediment in establishing an informational circuit between the prosecution and the press. Caraman said this thing after have ben required by journalists to explain why this institution had in 2007 a vague cooperation with the press.
In time of the press sitting of the Press Club, mayor Iurie Caraman summed-up the last-year activity of the Military Prosecution.
In 2007, the military units under the subordination of the Military Prosecution of Balti recorded and documented 16 infactions committed by militry men, by nine infactions fewer than in 2006. At the same time, the adjunct of the military prosecutor from Balti specified that, in the past five years, because of different reasons and circumstances, per one cases of dead of military men has been recorded each year, especially of those who do their military service in the units from the North of the republic.
Within the sitting of the Press Club, mayor Iurie Caraman also referred to the corruption phenomenon in military units.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). In one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

The mayor of Balti, Vasili Panciuk, participated on Thursday at the sitting of the Press Club, where he presented the local mass media representatives the results of the year 2007.
The mayor declared that one of the most important events of this year was the local elections from June 3rd. In this context, the mayor, who was supported at the elections by PCRM, declared that it is important “to preserve the trust offered by the population, because it is much easier to lose this trust”. Being at the third mandate of mayor, Vasili Panciuk declared that, at present, there is a stabilization of most domains in Balti. Referring to the economical performances of the town this year, the mayor focused on the fact that the interest of foreign investors towards the locality aroused. As a result, the rate of direct foreign investors has grown. “The fact that next year, according to the assessment, in Balti, the amount of production will reach in premiere three billion lei speaks about an optimistic situation”, Panciuk declared. On the other hand, the head of the Balti administration said that the town would need at least 25 years for adjusting the infrastructure of the locality. As far as the adoption of the budget for the next year is concerned, Panciuk declared that the budget is exclusively social and not political, as the opposition says.
At the sitting of the Press Club from Balti, Vasili Panciuk spoke at the request of journalists about the deetatization of the local press; the repairing of the roads and bridges; use of transfers from the state budget for the purchase of some new means of public transport; involvement of Balti in the activity of the Euro-region „Prutul de Sus”, as well as about his activity in the function of president of the Association of Mayors and Local Communities from Moldova.
The present mayor of Balti town, Vasili Panciuk, won the local elections this year without any problem. Supported by PCRM, Panciuk gathered nearly 66% of the votes.
The press club from Balti (CPB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The CPB sittings are supported by the Eurasia Foundation due to the financial support of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). In one year, journalists from different media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the press club where problems connected with the transparency of the decision-making process, combating corruption and European integration problems will be debated each month.
CPB was created in 1999.

Deputy Vladimir Vitiuk, member of the financial-economical parliamentary commission, participated on Monday (November 26th) at the Balti Press Club sitting.
Vladimir Vitiuk is one of the three Balti deputies from the current Parliament.
To some journalists’ surprise, the deputy declared that the performances of Republic of Moldova, in general, and of Balti Town, in particular, are due to mass media. This is because of the fact that for the governing party, mass media is the barometer of the situation, Vitiuk declared.
Within the Press Club sitting, the deputy referred to the way the budget of Republic of Moldova for the year 2008 has been adopted. He said that, in premiere, the Balti Town will be allocated great sums of money from the state budget - 74,4 million USD. This is, in a way, the result of the lobby activity in the Parliament of Chisinau of the interests of Balti Town, the deputy specified. As a generalization of the declarations regarding the budget of the country for the year 2008, the deputy declared that he was sure of the fact the economy from Moldova will progress next year.
In time of the sitting, the journalists from Balti addressed the deputy some questions regarding the decision (from summer 2003) referring to the reinstallation of Lenin’s monument in Balti, which caused at that time great protests. The reform of CRM was another issue discussed at the Press Club. Vitiuk gave some explanations to the journalists regarding some information, according to which the Balti Section of PCRM doesn’t pay for the rent of the Department of Registration and Documentation of the Population. At the same time, Vladimir Vitiuk expressed his opinion regarding the way corruption is combated “in the Northern capital”. The deputy, who is also a president of FC „Olimpia” spoke about the status of this institution, which is a status of municipal enterprise.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

Obeying the legislation of labour in Balti and the neighbouring districts was discussed on Wednesday at the Balti Press Club.
The guest of the sitting, Ivan Subernitchi (photo), the chief of the Territorial Labour Inspectorate of Balti, declared for the local pres about the violations from this field and the measures taken in the context of forcing employees to obey the legislation under consideration. In this context, the Inspectorate makes some control operations at the economic agents and other institutions once in nearly seven years. The control operations could be performed more often in case there are many complaints from the part of the employees about this problem. In Balti, there are four inspectors who check the way the legislation of labour is followed.
The guest of the press club sitting communicated that, in the last period of time, the number of labour accidents decreased at the economical units and Balti institutions. The same tendency is noticed in the district of Falesti, Floresti, Sangerei. Last year, there were 12 labour accidents recorded in Balti, as a result of which the employees have been seriously hurt, and two of them even died. At the beginning of this year, in the “Northern capital” and in the neighbouring districts, there were 13 cases of serious labour accidents recorded. Two of the victims died.
Ivan Subernitchi criticized the activity of the Prosecution of Balti, focusing mainly on the fact that this one avoided to inform the Territorial Labour from Balti regarding the decision of the law courts regarding the recorded cases of violation of labor legislation, especially the cases when people died. This fact creates difficulties n the monitoring process of these cases.
At the sitting, the participants also discussed about some problems connected with the problem of combating the activity of illegal work, information regarding economic agents suspected of illicit employment and about economic agents which are late with paying off the salaries to their employees.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

Ecological problems Balti Town faces today constituted the subject of the sitting (November 15th) of the Press Club, where more than 10 local journalist and representatives of the Ecological Agency from Balti participated.
Ion Gavdiuc (chief of the Ecological Agency from Balti), Valentin Ataman (vice-director) and Vadim Plohotniuc (chief of the Section of Ecology of the Institution) evaluated for journalists the ecological situation from Balti. The guests of the Press Club spoke about the actions the local authorities ad the ecological authorities take for maintaining a favourable environment. The guest of the sitting (photo) informed journalists about the punishment measures of those who, by means of their activity and actions, contribute to worsening the situation of the environment and the actions taken in this context by the Ecological Agency from Balti.
Ion Gavdiuc, chief of the Ecological Agency from Balti, specified that, from the beginning of the current year, nearly 450 folders have been opened regarding the violations of ecological norms. As a result, the amount of material damage in this field constituted over 200 thousand lei.
The chief of the Department of Ecology of the Ecological Agency from Bali, Vadim Plohotniuc, specified that, because of the soft sentences the law court and the court of appeal pronounce, many individuals and economic agents, whose activity worsen the situation of the environment, are not punished, or pay a fine of only 20 lei, despite the fact the material damage caused by their actions is estimated at several thousands lei.
Other issues discussed at the Press Club focused on the problems of the garage place of the town, the unpleasant smell in Balti, the illicit cutting of trees, the illegal storing of toxic materials on the territory of the locality.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

The journalists from Balti gathered, on Tuesday, at an ordinary sitting of the Local Press Club, where they discussed with independent experts upon the implementation of European Union – Republic of Moldova Action Plan (EURMAP).
At the sitting, the guests Iurie Gotisan, program coordinator of ADEPT, Sergiu Buscaneanu, expert ADEPT, Corneliu Gurin, independent expert, told about the current situation of implementation of this strategic document, mentioning the domains in which performances have been recorded and the ones which have still to be worked on.
The independent expert, Corneliu Gurin, referred in time of the sitting to the possibility that the domain connected with press freedom and free access to information be considered as problematic fields in the Report of the European Commission regarding the implementation of EURMAP. In another context, experts present at the sitting showed their suspicion about the successful implementatipon of all the items of EURMAP until November 2007, a period established by the prime-minister Vasile Tarlev. At the same time, experts specified that the period of three years meant for the realization of EURMAP is a too short period for Republic of Moldova's capacity to implement all the items included in the document.
The experts (photo) referred to the differences between the contest of reports regarding the implementation of EURMAP, development by the Government of Republic of Moldova, the report elaborated by the European Commission and the independent euromonitoring reports. In this context, experts mentioned that one of the sources for information for the development of independent reports regarding the way EURMAP is implemented are the independent and public means of mass information.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

Journalists from Balti have gathered on Tuesday, at an ordinary sitting of the local Press Club, where they have discussed with two representatives of the Territorial Cadastral Office - Andrei Chetrari (the head of the institution) and Viorel Pupaza (registrator).
During the sitting, the two guests of the Club told about the current situation regarding the assessment of the real estate from Balti. The head of TCO from Balti, Andrei Chetrari, presented the results of the process of assessment of the real estate from the locality, referring to the criteria according to which the evaluation has been made. In another context, Viorel Pupaza told about the reaction of the population to the application of new taxes for the real estate, according to the new assessment data.
The two guests (photo) alos referred to the types of information which can be offered by the institution at the request of journalists. There is some informatijn which cannot be told to the press service, the legislation says. These usually refer to the sale-buying agreements of real estate and some other private information which is stored in the data base of TCO.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

The achievements and perspectives of the Balti town in term of architectural aspect constituted the subjects of the sitting of the local Press Club, held on Friday, September 14th.
The chief-architect of the town, Boris Gritunic (photo), told the journalists about the difficulties face by the authorities in the realization of the General Plan of Urbanism. The main architect of the locality spoke about the factors which stop the architectural metamorphoses of the locality, including the lack of land for the construction of new buildings and blocks of flats. At the same time, Gritunic referred to the need of arranging the entertainment zones in some districts of the locality.
In time of the sitting of the Press Club, Boris Gritunic referred to the need of transposition of some trolley-bus stops; the need of reconstruction of some markets and the liquidation of booths which affect the architectural image of the locality; perspectives of construction of a Regional Trade Centre at the edge of Balti town.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

„The realization of the program of social-economic development of Balti for the years 2005-2015” was the subject of the sitting of the local Press Club held on Thursday, August 30th.
The head of the General Financial-economic Department of Balti Mayoralty, Marina Batan, presented the results of implementation of the Program in the period since the document was adopted, including the first seven months of the current year. In time of the sitting, Batan told the journalists about the impact the drought from this summer had on processing enterprises from Balti. Batan also referred to the losses caused by the producers of alcoholic drinks due to the embargo issued by Russia on the import from Moldova.
At the sitting, Batan (photo) also referred to the perspective of providing social houses to disadvantaged families, the dynamics of the exported production amount, the amount of investments in Balti.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

Journalists from informing media from Balti debated on Saturday (August 18th), with representatives of the Territorial Department of Administrative Control (TDAC) from Balti the legal character of decisions and official documents emitted by the authorities of Balti town and the districts of Falesti, Glodeni, Rascani and Sangerei.
During the sitting, journalists were familiarized with the functions and responsibilities of TDAC, as well as with the last control operations performed in the locality and districts covered by this governmental institution.
At the sitting of the Press Club, Octavian Mahu (photo), the head of TDAC, presented a report of assessment of the legal character of the activity from the first seven months of the current year of the above-mentioned administrative-territorial units. He referred mainly to the activity after the general local elections from June 3rd and 17th, 2007. journalists analyzed the presented cases and asked for additional information referring to some illegalities recorded by the governmental structure. At the same time, journalists were interested in writing materials about the activity of LPAs. They expressed their wish to discuss more often upon this issue. Octavian Mahu promised to present journalists once in two months information about the results of the control operations performed by the Territorial Department of Administrative Control of Balti.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). in one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999.

Journalists from the local press and representatives of some public institutions and state structures from Balti gathered on Friday at the sitting of the local Press Club to identify solutions for a better cooperation to insure decisions transparency in this context.
The journalist present at the sitting showed their dissatisfaction with the way the activity in the context of cooperation with press institutions is managed by the Balti Mayoralty. The municipal authorities must be open for mass media, journalists said, even if some positive actions have been noticed in the last period of time in this context.
On the other hand, the deputy mayor of Balti, Aleksandr Usatai (photo), noticed that the relations between the authorities and journalists have progressed, despite the fact that some press materials are sometimes presented with a low level of objectivism. At the same time, Usatai regrets the fact that the authorities do not have a person in charge with the relations with media.
Representatives of some public institutions reproached the Balti journalists that, they cannot always offer information operatively, because of some good reasons. They criticized the low level of professionalism of journalists and the bad documentation of some articles and reporting materials.
The manager of the newspaper „SP”, Slava Perunov , considers that the relations between media and authorities progressed in the last period of time, despite the big number of gaps still existing in this context. They are dictated by the trivial mentality of representatives of public institutions. Many servants still consider that the press is a promoter of the governing system and not an instrument of informing the society, as it was long time ago. The situation is similar in term of obtaining official information, considered by some servants their property and not the public’s property.
The Press Club of Balti (PCB) is administered by DECA-press Agency. The PCB’s sittings are supported by Eurasia Foundation from the resources of USAID, the Government of Norway and the Swiss Agency for International Development (Sida). In one year, journalists from different informing media institutions from Balti will moderate the sittings of the Press Club where problems connected with the decisional transparency, problems of combating corruption and European integration will be discussed each month.
PCB was created in 1999. Despite the fact it has been working with some breaks in the last few years, the Club has visibly improved the interaction relations between the press and public and state institutions.