Legal and institutional aspects that determine the dialog between public authorities and civil society organizations in the Republic of Moldova (part I)
Authors:   Academy of Public Administration, Republic of Moldova, Palihovici Liliana 
Published: December 2021

CSOs are a key component of an open and democratic society as they play a key role in the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law, their dialogue with the public authorities being a precondition for this. By analyzing the development of dialogue between Moldovan CSOs and Central and Local Public authorities (CPA / LPA), I found that PA are not yet fully aware of the value of the dialogue, which is sporadic and guided by certain interests, that do not always coincide with the public interest. The key objective pursued by this research was to review the environment underlying activity and collaboration of the civil society from the standpoint of influence exerted by the internal and external factors that determine the core essence of the social environment, while paving and setting conditions for carrying out activities and collaboration between the civil society and public authorities. The paper aims to prove that more communication and collaboration between public authorities and civil society organizations, will likely result in a more inclusive, qualitative and focused act of governance. The author analyses and presents the existing decision-making systems and its consultation mechanisms with the civil society organizations in the Republic of Moldova, the existing opportunities for CSO’s involvement in the public policy making process and the actual practices. A number of research methods were used in the study, aimed at highlighting the particularities of the dialogue and cooperation between the public authorities (PA) and the CSOs, as part of the act of governance, studying the development over time and the influence of various social, economic and political factors on these processes. Thus, the historical analysis method to research the origin and evolution of the legal framework that regulates the dialogue and cooperation between PA and the CSOs was applied. It included analysis of the relevant laws, regulations and policies, together with existing reports and studies on the subject of research, in the Republic of Moldova. I found that public authorities are not yet fully aware of the value of the dialogue and the political factor is also of great influence, as in recent years there has been an increasing pressure on the civil society. The paper reflects the current situation in Moldova, which can be summarized as follows: a) there are no permanent mechanisms or platforms for cooperation and consultation, open to all. Civil society participation is limited to a small number of CSOs, and there are no incentives for the growth of CSOs. b) LPAs, compared to CPAs, enjoy a much higher level of ,,trust” from the society/community, but they rarely have the resources and skills to conduct a constructive dialogue with CSOs; c) there is a proven reluctance of the LPA/CPA to deepen the dialogue and cooperation with the civil society; d) The culture of participation is very weak as there is no perception that participation is an instrument of change. A number of recommendations in order to address the identified problems are listed.