On July 29, it is 20 years of the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova. IPN News Agency asked a number of analysts and opinion leaders to what extent the Supreme Law ensures now the rule of law and defends the human rights. What is and what the Constitution should be for the country and the ordinary people?
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Should the Supreme Law envision the country’s integration into the EU? Is Moldova ready for such constitutional changes? What is the international practice?

Doctor of History Mihai Cernencu, head of the International Relations and Politology Department of the Free International University of Moldova:

The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova should contain an article concerning the European integration. It would be good if the political parties reached such a consensus. There will be no radical changes, but the fact itself will keep the political parties of Moldova on the path to European integration and will deepen the integration process. However, I don’t think that a party will obtain a constitutional majority of 67 seats after the coming parliamentary elections so as to be able to vote the introduction of such an article.

In general, the post-Communist and post-Soviet states had a different approach to the integration processes compared with Moldova. Except for Moldova and Slovakia, the political parties in the rest of the countries reached a national consensus on the Association Agreement and then on the European integration process. For example, the leaders of the parliamentary parties of Romania in 1995 signed the Snagov Declaration that stipulated the consensus of the ruling political forces and the opposition forces so that when they come to power they continue the European integration process. The same happened in the Baltic Countries, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and other states.

Regretfully, we have a different situation that is dictated by the existence of the party-based system in Moldova. I consider this is a system of geopolitical parties, like the Communist Party of Moldova. This party is not concerned about the economic, social and other policies that is should pursue besides those that would help it in the election campaign. This party-based political system, which is oriented mainly to the geopolitical vector, cannot be sustainable.

This system based on geopolitical orientation only has no chances in the future. In 2001, the Communists came with a very strange slogan - “Moldova must join the Russia-Belarus Union” – that didn’t exist and will probably not exist. The Communists abandoned this idea in 2002. When they came to power, they saw that they do not have the money they could have had from the EU. Owing to the fact that the EU announced its neighborhood policy and the Moldova – EU Action Plan was announced within it, the Communists followed this path. It’s clear that they will be in opposition and will change the course. Now they promote the idea of joining the Customs Union, which, in fact, is dead.

So, this element of the European integration process exists and it will be very good if there is a consensus between the political parties, the ruling and the opposition ones, so as to promote this process, because the European integration is the only way for modernizing Moldova.

The EU is an area of security and economic prosperity from where foreign investments will come. It is the area where one can allocate money and make investments. The introduction of this article is not strictly necessary, but it will be welcome as Moldova’s course should not be changed in several years.

If this article is introduced in the Constitution, it will be clear that the European integration means Moldova’s modernization because the EU is a union based on such principles as the respect for human dignity and solidarity. For Moldova, there is no other solution than the European integration. There will be found no other solutions even in 10-20 years.

There are states whose Constitutions contain such an article, but they are few in number.
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“Most of the states of Central and Eastern Europe reviewed their Constitutions before entering the EU,” then constitutional law expert  Corneliu Gurin said in an analysis for IPN, published on August 29, 2011.

These are the conclusions reached then by the author:

1. The European integration process, the rules and fundamental principles formulated by the European institutions represented a source of inspiration and promotion for constitutional reforms.

2. In order to be accepted into the EU, many countries amended the constitutional provisions concerning the exercise of sovereignty.

3. The European integration represents a method of promoting democracy, the rule of law and the human rights, and the constitutional systems should be flexible so as to allow the changes needed to facilitate European cooperation.

4. Moldova’s case should be examined separately because the provisions of our Constitution as regards the fundamental human rights are flexible and extended and the international documents prevail over the national ones. In virtue of Article 8 of the Constitution, the Republic of Moldova pledged to respect ‘the treaties of which it is a party and to base its relations with other states on unanimously recognized international law principles and norms. Many of the EU regulations represent such treaties, principles and norms. An essential problem can derive from the norm providing that the coming into force of an international treaty that contains provisions running counter to the Constitution will have to be preceded by the revision of these provisions. The determination of the constitutionality of the provisions of the future treaties can be a difficult and long-lasting process that will affect the integration pace and process.

5. The revision of Moldova’s Constitution can be initiated, discussed and promoted so as to ensure the irreversibility of the European integration process and not to hinder in the future the given process at the level of national institutions (Parliament, the Constitutional Court), when the decision about the entry into the EU is examined.

It should be noted that any revision, even if it refers to the European integration, must take place in accordance with the provisions of the present Constitution. As the revision will center on the problem of national sovereignty, the possible amendments should be examined and approved in Parliament and then by the people by a constitutional referendum, where the revision of the Constitution should be endorsed by a majority of votes.