Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, the interim Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfred Simonis, and the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) deputies, Ciprian Serban, lodged on Wednesday in the Senate a bill that provides for the Romanian state to grant 2 million euros annually to the Metropolitan of Bessarabia of the Republic of Moldova.
"Annually, an amount in RON, the equivalent to 2 million euros will be allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs to the Metropolitan of Bessarabia, Republic of Moldova, part of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The amount allocated according to Article 1 shall be provided for separately in the budget of the General Secretariat of the Government, respectively the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs and shall be granted as financial support to the Metropolitan of Bessarabia, Republic of Moldova," stipulates the draft, whose initiators have asked for its debate in Parliament under the urgent procedure.
The normative act stipulates that the destination of these funds will be established by the Patriarchal Administration and the Metropolitan of Bessarabia through the Archdiocese of Chisinau.
The amounts allocated from the state budget are intended to cover the expenses necessary for the restoration and conservation of movable heritage, to supplement the funds needed for the maintenance and operation of diocesan centres and worship units with low or no income, for the development and maintenance of cultural-religious museums, and for the construction and repair of places of worship, the purchase of buildings necessary for the activities of the religious units, as well as for the social and medical assistance activities supported by the religious units, the support of social and medical assistance activities organized by the Metropolitan of Bessarabia in hospitals, foster homes, homes for the elderly, the support of cultural-religious events.
The provisions of this law will enter into force on 1 January 2024.AGERPRES