The Civic Platform “Dignity and Truth” seeks the replacement of the promoters of the European integration who failed in this process owing to their acts. The protests in the Great National Assembly Square are aimed at making the government resign because it came to power by hiding that the country was robbed of €1 billion, the executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) Igor Botan, who is a member of the Platform, said in the public debate “Political communication in periods of crisis: between public interest and narrow political interest” that was organized by IPN News Agency in co-production with Radio Moldova.
“We started from a simple thing – €1 billion was stolen and you tell us that it was taken honestly. We consider this is strange and ask why the competent institutions didn’t intervene? It happened because these institutions wrote letters to politicians who didn’t intervene. If you call yourself the Alliance for European Integration, do as the Europeans do: if you made a mistake leave or correct it. You correct nothing. The elections are a political contract - you satisfy our demands and we vote for you. You were elected and then come and say that €1 billion disappeared and this money will be transformed into a public debt,” said the ADEPT executive director.
According to him, after the first protest the participants were ignored. After the second protest, the authorities said something and then kept silent. Afterward the protesters were also ignored by the government. “What should we do? If we do not go on and go home, the politicians will say that we are fools and they can rob us further. The question is why no measures are taken? We cannot expect that those who committed abuses will punish themselves. The participants in the first three protests formulated socioeconomic demands and asked punishing those who stole the billion. These demands were ignored and we thus put forward political demands, seeking resignations. I, as a citizen, do not want to be trampled. We want the current political class to behave in a European manner. We can no longer move back,” stated Igor Botan.
He quoted the Constitutional Court president Alexandru Tanase, who in an interview said that the parties in Moldova belong to backers and these decide nothing if the backer does not want. “This means oligarchy, when several very influential and reach people hold real power,” he stated.
Igor Botan is convinced that if the people during the election campaign prior to the parliamentary elections of 2014 had been told that their deposits in banks would lose one third of their value, these would have voted in a different way. “If the pro-Europeans rob us this way, what should I do? If a billion was stolen and those to blame weren’t punished, these will steal again. If they want Moldova to integrate into the EU, let’s hold early elections where their mandate could be confirmed. This way we will win as a protest movement appeared, which will no longer treat the parties with indulgence because they are pro-European. Let’s come before the European partners and tell them that we pledge to keep the country on the floating line,” he said.
The public debate “Political communication in periods of crisis: between public interest and narrow political interest” is the 41st of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are organized with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
