site.btaTaraclia District Council Chair Seeks Bulgaria's Support to Protect Bulgarian Diaspora amid Moldova's Administrative Reform

Taraclia District Council Chair Lazar Dermenji presented on Thursday proposals for changes to Moldova's planned administrative reform which will take into account the region's specific demographic and geographic characteristics. He was speaking during a meeting of Bulgaria's parliamentary Committee on Policies for Bulgarians Abroad held at the National Assembly.

Dermenji said the changes are necessary to preserve the Bulgarian community in Taraclia District. "We work well with the central authorities, but we have a responsibility to the residents of Taraclia District. We want Bulgaria's support in the reform process," he said.

He reported that the Government of Moldova is already working on a draft administrative reform, but representatives of the district insist that additional texts be included in it. One of the main requests is for Taraclia to be granted treatment similar to that under Law No. 136, which regulates the special status of Chisinau Municipality, so as to reflect the district's specific demographic and geographic characteristics.

Another proposal concerns lowering the minimum population threshold required for a mayor's office to be preserved in a settlement. Under the parameters of the reform being discussed, a settlement needs at least 3,000 residents in order to have a mayor's office. "We want the quotas for settlements to be reduced. A village in Moldova must have no fewer than 3,000 people in order to have a mayor's office. We want this to be reduced to at least 2,500," Dermenji said. He justified the proposal with the demographic decline and the specific features of the settlements in the district.

As a third request, Dermenji pointed to the restoration of institutions which, according to him, have been moved out of Taraclia District in recent years.

He expressed hope that the proposals would receive support both from the Bulgarian institutions and from the Moldovan authorities. Addressing the members of the committee and Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova, who attended the meeting, Dermenji said: "I think that with your help, the Moldovan authorities will approve our demands."

In response, Petrova said that the protection of the rights of the Bulgarian national minority in Moldova remains among the main priorities of Bulgarian foreign policy. "The rights of the national minority are a key task and a topic that we raise in all our contacts with Moldova, as well as with all other countries where there is a Bulgarian national minority," Petrova said.

Regarding the administrative reform in Moldova, she said that Bulgaria has repeatedly raised the issue of Taraclia's future status in talks with the Moldovan authorities and has received assurance that the reform will be adapted to the needs of the Bulgarian national minority there. Petrova stressed that the issue is part of the bilateral dialogue between Bulgaria and Moldova and, following the start of Moldova's EU accession negotiations, is also being considered in a European context.

She pointed out that more specific matters related to the minimum number of residents required to preserve mayor's offices, as well as other technical parameters of the administrative reform, fall within the competence of the Moldovan institutions. Bulgaria cannot interfere directly in the internal decisions of a sovereign State, she said, and added that Bulgaria continues to monitor the reform from the perspective of protecting the rights of the Bulgarian community in Moldova.

Committee Chair Angel Georgiev proposed that the requests be set out in writing and submitted for further consideration, and that additional information be provided on the application of Law No. 136.