Larisa Voloh has been appointed as a co-chair of the Parliamentary Working Group on Gagauzia (interview)

On September 12, 2022, Igor Grosu, the Chairman of the Parliament, appointed Larisa Voloh as a co-chair of the Parliamentary Working Group on Gagauzia on the part of the Parliament. Ms. Voloh has extensive experience in public administration – for more than 14 years she served as a mayor. She is also involved in numerous social and political activities and is a chair of the Women Network of CALM and a member of the delegation of the Republic of Moldova to CALRE. From 2021, Larisa Voloh is a member of the Parliament from the “Action and Solidarity” party and holds the position of the Public Administration Committee chair.

Ms. Voloh, what is your vision of relations and of the dialogue process between Chisinau and Comrat, and what your new position is about?

– Any kind of relations require a foundation, and the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova is the basis, on which relations between Chisinau and Comrat should develop harmoniously. In 1994, the law was adopted, which granted Gagauzia a special legal status, therefore, the Autonomy has competences in various fields: social, cultural, and administrative. At the same time, the society is in continuous development and clarification of devolved competences is required for better functioning of the Autonomy. In this context, in 2015, a dialogue platform was launched at the parliamentary level between Chisinau and Comrat, and a Parliamentary Working Group comprised of representatives of various parliamentary factions and members of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia was launched.  The dialogue on this platform is facilitated by CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation in the framework of the “Dialogue on Gagauzia” Project. The dialogue process is comprised of formal and informal meetings where WG members discuss common priorities, review international practices and look for proper solutions. In this capacity, I will use all my expertise in the field of administration and local development, good governance and social cohesion in order to ensure that the dialogue process is constructive, performance based, trustworthy and beneficial for citizens of our country.

As a co-chair of the Parliamentary Working Group, what priorities will you focus on?

– First of all, I would like to say that all people residing in the ATU Gagauzia are full citizens of the Republic of Moldova; they enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as other citizens. I come from environment where I worked and where interests and well-being of citizens always came first for me. That is why I will continue working and promoting priorities for the benefit of people, but not at the expense of anyone, and will keep looking for sustainable solutions. Since launching of the Working Group, more than 50 decisions were made, and remarkable results were achieved, for example, the Regional Development Agency was established, through which development projects for Gagauzia are financed; and I would like to keep achieving similar results in the future as well. Since resumption of functioning of the Working Group, several informal meetings took place that were facilitated by CMI experts, which resulted in adoption of the Action Plan for 2022 that includes priorities of all participants of this dialogue platform. In the framework of the “Dialogue on Gagauzia” project, funded by Sweden, we have access to international experience in the field of autonomies, decentralization, comparative studies, good and not so good experience from other parts of the world. CMI offers us support in this field and it is extremely important that we are not alone in this process.

In the context of emerging challenges, what do you think, what will they be about, and how do you plan to address them?

– The geopolitical situation, in the context of war in the neighbouring country, and consequences that we already feel at the economic level might lead to increased tension in the society. These are the consequences that we have to adapt to; we have to stand by our citizens, to support them and to be united in the face challenges. At the same time, I believe that these challenges should not affect activities of the Working Group; vice a versa, on this platform we are able to discuss methods and instruments that are necessary to overcome jointly any difficulties and to work effectively for the benefit of all citizens of the Republic of Moldova. I think that all obstacles can be cleared with the help of diplomacy and mutual respect, because we are a united country.

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