The main problem faced by a coalition government is that it cannot rapidly promote reforms and, if it does not have enough time to implement them after they are adopted, it risks being penalized in the next elections, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov said in the public debates ”The Alliance consists of allies, while the government team of fellow members? The culture of political relations in government: manifestations, stakes and effects” that were staged by Info-Prim Neo on May 29. The minister said that at the end of the 1990s, Moldova faced a serious economic crisis, when the salaries and pensions were paid with delay. The then ruling alliance did many drastic reforms, which produced results later, during the Communist rule. The politicians and experts who took part in the debates said the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) covered a path and learned certain lessons. “Both society and the political class learned certain lessons and grew up. They went through new, useful experiences,” said the leader of the Liberal-Democrats in Parliament Valeriu Strelet. He stated that society gradually gets rid of the political monologue and the one-voice model and gets used to the plurality of opinions that are sometimes in excess. According to him, the AEI would like to cover certain stages as soon as possible. “I’m yet optimistic that we are partners and fellow members within the AEI. The recent exams showed this,” said Valeriu Strelet, referring to the last two laws adopted in Parliament, which generated heated debates. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said that the formation of the ruling alliance was a compromise decision, but this alliance makes progress. He stated that the authorities shouldn’t be too open with the public as sometimes the politicians must take cynical decisions that are beneficial to society in the future. “However, the components of the alliance found more things that unite them, than separate them,” he said. Former MP Ecaterina Mardarovici, executive director of the Women’s Political Club “50/50”, drew a parallel between the AEI and the Alliance for Democracy and Reforms (ADR) that ruled at the end of the 1990s. She stressed that the ADR had a leader with moral influence over all the alliance partners – ex-President Mircea Snegur. “We should avoid making the same mistakes,” said Ecaterina Mardarovici, stressing the poor communication between the components of the AEI. Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), said there are two types of political culture – parochial and participative. “In a rural country like Moldova, the parochial political culture prevails. When the people are asked, most of them say they want one ruling party. They do not like the disagreements inside the ruling alliance, while the politicians want to be regarded as leaders so as to be liked by the people more. It is a vicious circle,” he stated. He also said that he does not believe that the leaders of the alliance now trust each other, but stressed that the AEI is to rule for two years and a half more and, if it makes effort and makes progress, the people will say that it had to experience mistakes so as to learn the lesson. But if it does not, the rule of the AEI will come to an end. Minister of the Environment Gheorghe Salaru said that the political culture and the religious one should be developed in Moldova. “Unfortunately, the Moldovans have a mentality of consumers. We want to consume Western democratic values and a good government, but who produces it? We all should become producers of the values that we consume,” he stated. Democrat MP Oleg Tulea said the AEI learned many things from its experience and follows the right path. He expressed his optimism that the political culture will develop and said that Moldova is much closer to the European values than other former Soviet states, even if democracy in our country is now young and feeble. The debates form part of the Development of the Political Culture through Public Debates Project that is supported by the German foundation Hanns Seidel. The participants approved of the event, saying society needs such consultations so as to better understand the government process and the importance of becoming directly involved in it.