In the society in which we live, there are many informal rules that dominate the formal rules. Even if there are laws adopted by Parliament in a large number, these are nevertheless dominated by the informal ones – the pubic officials work according to the rules of money, while those who do not correspond to the posts join political parties. As a result, weak state institutions are created and this generates fundamental infirmity in the state bodies that should have generalist purposes and should represent each citizen, public policy expert Igor Munteanu, of the electoral bloc ACUM, stated in the public debate “Political culture of Moldovan society: current state and trendies” that is the 100th of the series “Developing political culture through public debates”, organized by IPN Agency and Radio Moldova.
According to Igor Munteanu, there are always politicians who try to maximally exploit the vices of the nation of which they form part, trying to use them to grow the capital and profits. There is a wide discrepancy between form and content and the Party of Socialists, which tries to come closer to the church, is a conclusive example. In reality, socialism has nothing to do with the traditional values.
The representative of the bloc ACUM referred also to the differences between the political groups that will compete in the upcoming parliamentary elections and their beliefs. One can mobilize the voters for something particular as there is enough capability, but what for? “They mobilize them, but what for? They mobilize them in order to fulfil the dream of restoring the USSR through kolkhozes and of distributing benefits from what was stolen. The Shor phenomenon derived from the weakness of the state as the state could not protect our collective assets. On the other hand, someone protects Shor in the public sphere so as to satisfy all their caprices. Shor should stay in jail and the ordinary court gave him a jail term. But the big players from behind the curtain decided that he should be used for their electoral purposes. This is the big problem of transition in the Republic of Moldova and this is the big problem that we should confront during the next few weeks,” stated Igor Munteanu.
According to him, the bloc ACUM, which was registered on December 21, from now on will have to reach each citizen in this country who feels wronged. The bloc underlines the necessity of collective actions so that we could live in a normal state based on the rule of law, meritocracy and the possibility of not leaving anyone behind. Even for the most impotent ones, the state should bear responsibility and take them out of poverty, rural misery and offer them sufficient reasons to survive and live decently after retirement. By the Association Agreement with the European Union, Moldova assumed this obligation to ensure a decent old age.
“When we favor and allow Shor to steal millions from the controlled banks and to then give some decayed chocolates as a present and no court, no prosecutor or no functionary of the Central Election Commission monitors these cases, it is clear that there is a moral problem, not only a problem related to the inefficiency of the administrative institution,” stated Igor Munteanu.
According to him, there are also pluses and minuses in the current state of affairs in Moldova. The pluses refer to the fact that the country entered the globalization current and over 60% of its exports go to the EU. This fact creates economic growth incentives. Moreover, there is the new generation of young managers who obtain excellent diplomas in the West. This wasn’t possible 30 years ago during the USSR. On the other hand, particular atavistic behaviors and attitudes related to the old regime continue to generate a wide discrepancy between bodies, legislation and citizens. For example, the population continues to feel attached to authorities, powerful leaders. The people believe not in rules, but in powerful persons who assume everything.
The expert said the transition of a society starts from the adoption of a Constitution and continues with the laws that are formulated in the interest of society and for the people’s benefit. Moldova’s problem is that this transition follows an imprecise direction. The exact direction, of creating a set of rules in a divided society, turned out to be a very difficult task. These divisions in society are normal, such as linguistic divisions, polarization by incomes, divisions of the historical merit, etc. But these internal fragmentations make the transition in practice be more difficult than in theory. The responsibility is borne by the political elites as they should set the clear goals of the transition. The people should be yet realistic – the bodies never converge with political culture .
“Not the economic indicators show the development level of a society, but the way in which the citizen understand to comply with rules that are in the public interest. Respectively, the most vulnerable subsystem of society is related to the lack of education, lack of applicability of laws in the life of citizens, inertia and the citizens‘ attitude to comply or not with the new political realities. The question is – which is the level of responsibility of the political parties for bringing the people closer to the law and creating a census on the general rules of conduct in society in this very unclear transition and to what extent this system is not beneficial to individuals, but is beneficial to the national interest?” asked Igor Munteanu.
Representatives of the Democratic Party and the Party of Socialists were also invited to the debate, but the invitation was rejected.
The debate “Political culture of Moldovan society: current state and trendies” forms part of the series of public debates staged by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova as part of the project “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
