I have held discussions over the last three days, since taking office as Minister, with senior managers from the Ministry’s central apparatus and with those from subordinate bodies: police, border police, emergency services, carabineers, migration, and the entire Ministry’s family.
The priorities for my mandate have been clearly outlined by the Prime Minister, and these are:
1. Reduction of response time to events and incidents by up to 15 minutes
This means not only arriving quickly at the scene, but also taking into account the protection of both victims and the intervention forces so that they act professionally.
This is why we need to reassess our intervention procedures, so that we have proper planned teams – which ensure good coverage of the national territory and can support each other when needed.
We continue to build informed teams – to know what to expect in order to have maximum responsiveness to the incident.
At the same time, we need efficient teams to resolve situations promptly in order to be available for further intervention. And obviously, we need teams equipped with all the necessary tools to intervene professionally.
Of course, this means working according to single procedures, not separated by department, and developing a package of standardised documents. This means working interconnected, having the same implementation policies, and having the same set of procedures and documents designed in the same single form to implement staff culture in decision-making and execution processes.
I have already asked the management team to come up with proposals on sustainable measures so that serious incidents such as the one at Chisinau International Airport do not happen again.
2. Another priority of the mandate is to increase citizens’ confidence in the internal affairs system.
We understand that trust is hard won and quickly lost. For this reason, all our actions will be guided by three principles: order, discipline and coordination. The implementation of the principles will result in making the employee of the Internal Affairs system an example to follow for the civil society.
I want to make it clear that I have zero tolerance for corruption!
I am the enemy of systemic corruption and any isolated cases! I assure you that operations to prevent and combat corruption and related offences will have the resources to find out the truth and hold the guilty accountable.
Furthermore, prevention and anticipation will become equally important, involving resource allocation, coordination, and monitoring.
Certainly, the demands on the employee in the internal affairs system must be balanced with an adequate social package and transparent guidance to ensure career predictability.
These measures, combined with more transparency and communication, will help us to improve the prestige of the Ministry, increase the citizens’ trust and help build resilience to misinformation, negative insinuations, and divisiveness.
European Moldova – is a national objective, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is at the core of this process as part of the package dealing with justice, freedom, and security (Chapter 24), together with the judiciary and fundamental rights (Chapter 23). These are chapters of major importance in the negotiation process for accession to the European Union.
We know that after the start of accession negotiations is approved, interactions between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, Member States, agencies, and networks of the Union will intensify. In other words, we understand that the volume of involvement required is increasing considerably and gradually, but together we will certainly succeed.
This is why it is necessary to act in order to speed up the implementation of existing projects and to identify funding opportunities for new initiatives, but all of them well outlined, with clear deliverables and deadlines to ensure traceability.
The team’s efforts in the run-up will be rewarded in the autumn when the agreement to join the EU Civil Protection Mechanism is signed – a milestone in the collaboration with the EU and another step towards joining the big European family.
I intend to ensure continuity and thus multiply the number of mechanisms used at EU level in which the Republic of Moldova participates. Because more fusion with the EU mechanisms means above all increasing the quality of life of our citizens.
These three objectives have been communicated to the whole system and I will put in place the necessary mechanisms for their implementation, evaluation, coordination, and constant monitoring. We will update the performance indicators to ensure that everyone knows and understands what to do, that everyone has the knowledge and capacity to fulfil their mission.
In addition to these, I have proposed three campaigns with an instant impact on the safety and quality of life of citizens:
- Resumption of the ‘White Nights’ operations in order to ensure the continuity of responsibility measures for traffic participants who violate road traffic rules, thus endangering people’s lives. Increased patrols in recreational, leisure and residential areas, especially on weekends, as a necessary measure to ensure security for citizens, including people from abroad who return home en masse during the summer season, and holidays in particular.
- With regard to night rallies, we are aware of the negative impact on public order, which is why we are also launching the ‘Stop Engine Speed’ campaign with the aim of disciplining all participants in road traffic, a campaign especially focused on this phenomenon.
Personally, I am a team player and strongly believe that the most important resource of an institution – is the human resource, which is why I will promote employee care. I am convinced that, in view of the results achieved by my colleagues, which have also been recognised by external partners, together we will find and apply the right tools to be effective.
We have already started the process of calibrating the other institutional resources – financial and logistical – in order to establish the concrete steps that will contribute to achieving the 3 objectives.
We will certainly continue to work with development partners in order to support concrete steps in relation to the agreed priorities. I will ensure that these processes are inclusive, transparent, and synchronised so that support, which we understand is limited, is provided and allocated to those functional areas that contribute directly and indirectly to the achievement of the objectives.
