The impunity and political corruption that are the main enemies of democracy generate economic and social consequence and a negative impact on the supremacy of law. These can be combated by uniting the forces of civil society, the independent media and representatives of political parties, leaving the orientations aside. The opinions were formulated in an international conference staged in Chisinau by Transparency International Moldova. The event brought together representatives of civil society of Moldova and another 14 states and of seven parties of the nine invited, IPN reports.
According to TI – Moldova executive director Lilia Carasciuc, politic corruption is an abuse aimed at keeping or consolidating power. The phenomenon is based on two principles: divide and rule. When this phenomenon persists, society is split and is manipulated and public attention is distracted from real problems by presenting a false agenda. Referring to a form of political corruption, Lilia Carasciuc gave as example the group of interests that obtained 1/5 of the vote in elections, but in time increased its presence and now has control of Parliament. Political corruption is unprecedented and in private discussions many “political migrants” say they were forced to switch parties. This group of interests, given that it does not enjoy the people’s support, decided to replace the electoral system despite all the appraisals of civil society and the recommendations of the Venice Commission. Among other mentioned examples were the banking fraud, the Russian Laundromat, the invalidation of elections in Chisinau and the hampering of two referendums.
Miklos Marschall, former deputy managing director of Transparency International, said political corruption shakes the foundations of any democracy, undermines confidence between people and people’s trust in the state and, what is more serious, affects peaceful transition from one government to another.
Agnieszka Gmys-Wiktor, of the National Endowment for Democracy, which offers support to the independent media and promotes programs with emphasis on human rights, said the programs related to accountability and transparency are a priority. “Corruption and lack of transparency are major threats to any democracy,” stated Agnieszka Gmys-Wiktor. According to her, the situation in Moldova is difficult as the anticorruption activists, investigative journalists work in a hostile environment. Corruption remains a major problem of the country, according to polls. Despite these challenges and difficulties, both civil society and the investigative journalists developed resistance so as to be able to work and this event is designed to consolidate the exchange of experience between representatives of civil society in Moldova and experts from 14 states who attend the event. It is also an opportunity for the participating political parties to work out a common strategy for fighting political corruption.
In a video message shown at the conference, MEP Petras Auštrevičius said it is never too late to fight corruption as this is the enemy of a political system that leads to a decline in confidence, generates uncertainty and hampers the socioeconomic development. “I hope the new government coalition in the Republic of Moldova will assume this commitment as an important task, as a priority for politics in the Republic of Moldova. There is no future together with corruption as the country will show regression sooner or later and the image at international level will be destroyed. For these reason, we, in Europe, devote a lot of time to corruption fighting,” stated Petras Auštrevičius.
The international conference entitled “Combining forces against impunity and political corruption” was organized with financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy.
