At the weekly meeting of the Chisinau City Hall services on Monday, August 28, Ion Ceban, the capital’s mayor, criticized the government for the Independence Day expenses, as well as the number of spectators attending the concert. In response, Executive spokesman Daniel Voda said “the mayor got into an election fever and is counting concert spectators”.

The mayor general of the capital, Ion Ceban, asked for the publication of all expenses related to the organisation of cultural and artistic events dedicated to Moldova’s Independence Day.

“I saw yesterday’s events, and in this context I asked the Directorate of Culture to calculate once again the expenses for the Chisinau Days in Vienna, Barcelona and Italy because there were many interpretations in the public space. For the three locations, the total amount was about 900 thousand lei.

(…) It seems that in Barcelona there were more people than at yesterday’s celebration in the Great National Assembly Square.

(…) The stage rental and set-up alone cost over 2.3 million euros. And with all the bringing, because it was brought from Romania, about 3 million lei. (…) I have not seen the data, I know how much it cost only the stage because I talked to those who brought it, on Wednesday it will be taken away because we have something to do there”, said Ion Ceban.

Government spokesman Daniel Voda said that data on the expenses incurred will be published by the Ministry of Culture.

“The mayor is in election fever and counting concert-goers. I hope he was also counting the tens of thousands of his fellow citizens who watched the live broadcasts or the hundreds of citizens who chatted with officials in the square behind the Executive.

As for the expenses, the Ministry of Culture will systematize the information about the costs of the Independence Day artistic programme and make them public, as always, transparently, unlike the Mayor who reported the concerts abroad after public pressure from journalists, some requests dating back to the beginning of July”, said Daniel Voda.

At the same meeting, the capital’s mayor, Ion Ceban, asked his colleagues at the Culture Department “not to exclude artists on political criteria or/and any other grounds”, commenting on the case of performer Geta Burlacu, who claimed to have been removed from the list of performers for the 27 August concert.