After 30 years of independence, the Republic of Moldova still falls short of its potential as a nation, a country or state. From the perspective of each of these three concepts, the Republic of Moldova remains strongly fractured. As a nation, Moldova is not yet a community of people with a consensus on their identity and history, and also – just as important – on their future. As a country, the Republic of Moldova is not yet able to impose its sovereignty on all its internationally recognized territory. As a state, the Republic of Moldova still remains dysfunctional in many respects, including with regard to the fundamental pillars of a state, such as democratic institutions, the rule of law and ensuring a stable economic base, says the State of the Country Report 2021 that was produced by the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup” in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, IPN reports.
The report says the Republic of Moldova has failed to make a truly qualitative leap forward in its development, because fundamental problems remain (weak institutions, poor governance, a vulnerable economy, low energy security, a polluted environment, and inefficient social protection). Of course, some progress made over 30 years of independence cannot be ignored (poverty reduction, stabilization of the macroeconomic situation, institutional reforms, and the implementation of additional social protection instruments). However, these achievements can hardly be categorized as qualitative leaps towards a sustainable model of economic growth.
As a result, after 30 years of independence, there is no genuine social contract between the state and non-state actors (citizens and enterprises), due to the acute lack of trust in the authorities. This is one of the most serious problems in the country today: it fuels populism and undermines government’s ability to think long-term and to implement complex and systemic reforms. Thus, each new government focuses on measures that will have an immediate impact and puts to one side the most difficult reforms. Given the electoral cycle, these reforms end up being postponed indefinitely. The perpetuation – or even aggravation – of these problems has its origin in the lack of a consistent and long-term vision for the development of the country by the political elites, whose discourse has always been limited to convincing the electorate to vote for them in elections, based on populist promises and subsequently justifying themselves before the electorate on the modest progress of reforms.
De facto, the Republic of Moldova is marked by three vulnerabilities that remain unresolved: erosion of its human capital, technological gap and structural vulnerabilities. Against the background of the above-mentioned vulnerabilities, over these 30 years of independence, Moldova’s economy has been repeatedly impacted by a range of negative shocks, which have fundamentally undermined the dynamics of economic development and the transition to a functioning market economy, based on a sustainable model of economic growth. However, the worst shocks are related to the major – even historical – failures of successive governments: bank fraud with no historical precedent, collapse of state-owned enterprises, failure to ensure the rule of law. Corruption has been a major government dysfunction over the past three decades.
In order to strengthen its competitiveness, the Republic of Moldova needs to needs to exploit its human capital more efficiently, become more technologically developed, and more resilient to climate change. The country will have to address more decisively some significant challenges, namely modernization of the educational system, closing the technological gap, accelerating an increase in labor productivity, adapting to climate change, and strengthening energy security, says the State of the Country Report 2021.
