Law on construction of Iasi – Targu Mures ‘Union Highway’ adopted almost unanimously

The House adopted on Wednesday the bill approving the construction of the Iasi – Targu Mures Highway, dubbed the ‘Union Highway,’ a project set to be financed from the state budget via the Transport Ministry. The bill received 261 votes in favour, two against, and 5 abstentions. “The Union Highway investment project is financed from the state budget, via the Transport Ministry’s budget, from external loans and non-reimbursable European funds and/or via public-private partnership. During the implementation of the project, each annual budget law will earmark budget funds for this project, in line with the financing needs communicated by the Transport Ministry,” the bill reads. The Transport Ministry is the ministry responsible for coordinating the Union Highway project, according to the bill. Likewise, the Transport Ministry will start, within 30 days from the moment this bill comes into force, the procedures necessary to carry out the Union Highway investment project. During the voting, PNL and USR House lawmakers held two banners reading “Moldavia wants the Highway” and “We demand the Great Union Highway.” The law was tabled by 70 Senate and House lawmakers from all parliamentary parties. The House is the decisive Chamber of Parliament in this case.   Vosganian says ALDE MPs won’t vote 2019 budget unless it includes Union Highway   Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) Vice President Varujan Vosganian stated during the plenary session on Wednesday that ALDE MPs elected in Moldavia will not vote in favour of the 2019 state budget unless the budget includes financing for the Union Highway. “I don’t make threats but, for ALDE MPs from Moldavia, the presence of this project in the budget bill is a mandatory condition for us to vote in favour of the 2019 budget law,” House lawmaker Varujan Vosganian stated on Wednesday during the House plenary meeting. He added that, in his view, the Moldavian MPs of other parties share the same opinion. Vosganian also said that even though the Government is raising salaries and pensions, public opinion has started to judge Governments “based on the kilometres of highway.” “I warn you that, without this being a psychosis, public opinion has started to judge everything based on the kilometres of highway,” he pointed out. On September 19, ALDE MP and Spokesman Varujan Vosganian sent Premier Viorica Dancila an interpellation in which he states that the kilometres of highway built – not the raising of incomes, the GDP growth or the number of jobs created – have become indicative of the efficiency of a Government. Vosganian pointed out that, without the actual start of works on the Ungheni – Iasi – Targu Mures Highway, it will be difficult to convince people in Moldavia that the Government “deserves their appreciation and confidence.”

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