Moldovan democracy depends a lot on the quality of civil society, Jerzy Pomianowski, the executive director of the European Endowment for Democracy, stated in an interview for IPN.

“The only chance and source of success of Moldova is to preserve its energy and its civil society’s quality because this is something that makes Moldova so successful in its endeavor towards democracy. […] The ability to be part of the change of the society is reduced to the very little level. Respectively, the Moldovan civil society is an asset and a potential that will eventually prevail and make Moldovan democratic transformations successful,” said the executive director of the European Endowment for Democracy.

He considers that the situation of civil society in other countries is more difficult than in Moldova. “And that’s because we can see examples when civil society cannot operate that freely like in Moldova”.

According to Jerzy Pomianowski, the civil society organizations must ensure permanent control so as to make the authorities more responsible. “So civil society has to control from the day one every new government, and has to make the latter accountable and responsible. This is not about faces, it’s about mechanism that exists and that is acceptable for everybody,” stated the expert.

He considers that the NGO sector in Moldova is as robust as that in Ukraine. “I believe that Moldova and Ukraine have similar strong civil societies and that’s what keeps on the transformations.”

The fact that civil society cooperates with the governments is appreciated by Jerzy Pomianowski. “Working with governments is nothing wrong. Civil society is part of the same society. So all problems faced by society are common for the civil society as well. It’s not an isolated phenomenon. On contrary, the civil society works with people, with government or with local authorities,” he stated.

[…] But there are moments when the government does not deliver. And the civil society should mobilize the society. And this exists in Moldova and Ukraine. So this energy and ability of sending message saying “Enough is enough” is part of the Moldovan society, which is a big asset. And it makes any political power in Moldova to think twice when they present themselves to the people,” said the European expert.