The negotiations on the formation of a parliamentary majority are not held in a transparent format and are delayed. However, the important thing is for the politicians to reach a compromise and to deal with the problems faced by the state, not with the party or personal interests. Such opinions were stated in the public debate “Why politicians again need time to form a majority coalition and what people in Moldova risk in such conditions?” staged by IPN. The discussions involved representatives of the parliamentary groups of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and the Party of Communists (PCRM), while the representatives of the Liberal and Democratic factions turned down the invitation.
The permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Botan, who is the executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), said that German experts came to Chisinau in 2009 to help the pro-European parties form a governing coalition, but they were surprised to find out that their presence at those talks wasn’t wanted. “When a ruling coalition was to be formed by two parties in Germany, the representatives of those parties worked out a common government program based on the promises included in their electoral platforms. In Moldova they decided that it is better to hold the talks in secret, even if the politicians said the negotiations will be open and transparent. If these people had been honest, at these talks that they said would be transparent they would have discussed in detail how to carry out what they promised. My opinion is that they negotiate now as earlier, with secret protocols and by promoting group interests,” stated the expert.
Liberal-Democratic MP Valeriu Ghiletski said the fact that the negotiations continue and didn’t stop should be appreciated. “I do not agree that the talks are held in secret. They are rather discreet, but what is important is for results to be achieved. They should be discreet or the negotiation process will be affected. What is important for us is the negotiated formula, the program, the candidates, etc.” he stated.
He also said that the goal of the talks is to invest a government by the end of July. “By the end of this week, the constitutive documents will be probably agreed. There will be different groups of discussion with experts. This government has to deal with acute problems. There will be made changes at institutional level. I think more rigorous parliamentary control is needed. We should learn the lesson and take everything in our hands. An intervention mechanism is also needed. The negotiations will advance. I’m hopeful that we will have a Government and the government program by the end of this month,” said Valeriu Ghiletski.
Communist MP Artur Reshetnikov expressed his regret at the fact that the parliamentary parties didn’t accept the PCRM’s invitation to hold discussions in a broader format. “It’s a pity that the parties didn’t accept. It would have been an opportunity to negotiate in a different way. The current negotiations are a déjà vu because we witnessed a similar situation in 2009, 2010, and 2013. It seems that the political leaders make a show. The whole political class does not have the experience of governing in a coalition. There was a not very successful attempt at the end of the 1990s and then new attempts in 2009 and 2010, the alliances No. 1 and No. 2. There was a reformed coalition, secret agreements and distributed posts. It was established that the negotiations were in fact used to satisfy certain interests. We consider there are two obstacles that hinder the formation of a normal government – the frauds in the banking system and the party interests,” stated the lawmaker. According to him, given the serious political, economic and financial crisis, the delay in forming a government is almost criminal and a bad signal will be transmitted to the people if they continue this way.
The debate “Why politicians again need time to form a majority coalition and what people in Moldova risk in such conditions?” is the 40th installment of the series “Developing political culture by public debates”, staged by IPN News Agency in partnership with Radio Moldova and with the support of the German Foundation Hanns Seidel.
