The formation of the Alliance for European Integration 3 is a special occasion for putting again on scales the legality and legitimacy of the ruling pro-European partners and their real support for the European integration course. Such a conclusion is formulated in the IPN analysis “Last pro-European alliance of Moldova” that was published on July 24, 2014. The author of the analysis Valeriu Vasilica provides internal and external arguments in favor of such a conclusion.
“We should yet admit that the pro-European parties, leaders and coalitions, especially in the initial government periods, also had particular merits, sometimes sufficient, in promoting the European ideas and practices in Moldova. Including: they attracted money in exchange for reforms and credibility, and brought the Moldovan people and producers closer to the European values and standards, especially by obtaining free movement in the world and by signing the Association Agreement with the EU. On the one hand, not the merits are the key subject of this analysis. On the other hand, remedying things is more useful than lamentation in a moment of success. Thirdly, here and now, the blame of the pro-European leaders and parties is heavier on scales than their merits,” says the analysis.
The author considers the pro-European politicians are right when they say that the legality and legitimacy of the pro-European parties and course were confirmed in the parliamentary elections of 2014 and the local elections of 2015. However, after six years of pro-European government, with huge resources spent, with a large number of official national and international documents signed and with unprecedented political, economic, financial, logistic and geopolitical support from the greatest world powers – the EU and the U.S., the number of those who support the European integration idea among the Moldovans, according to different estimates, decreased or increased insignificantly, considerably less compared with invested resources and hopes. The responsibility in this situation is undoubtedly borne by the government.
In the large towns, which give the tone of the political life and form the development course, and in many of the smaller towns, the pro-European parties were outstripped by the pro-Russian ones and this is a significant signal.
The legitimacy and legality of the government may not be sufficient for offering guarantees for the pro-European course today and tomorrow, if we believe at least a part of the accusations of using administrative resources, of buying votes and of corrupting local and national elected officials, of staging blows from behind in the process of forming ruling coalitions at the local and national levels, made including by members of the pro-European parties. Therefore the credibility of the pro-European parties reached a critical level in the perception of society and this involves imminent threats to the European course of the country too.
The European partners and international backers treat with a more pronounced reserve the situation of the pro-European parties and of Moldova in general. The attitude will change not automatically and not immediately after the formation of the AEI 3 and of the new Government, but in time, after the new administration shows political will for making significant changes, says the author of the IPN analysis “Last pro-European alliance of Moldova”.
