The national assembly called generically “European Moldova”, which will take place this Sunday, May 21, is a national reconciliation event and a call for the cohesion of society and the political parties, but also a platform to show how much the Republic of Moldova wants to become part of the European Union, said experts invited to IPN’s public debate “National Assembly of May 21, stakes of event and political risks in connection with the European Political Community Summit”.
Doctor of History Octavian Țîcu, ex-MP, said that this is an event with political, geopolitical and civilizational stakes as the political future of the Republic of Moldova depends on it. The authorities are very much late with this assembly, which should have been held when the Republic of Moldova obtained the EU candidate status.
“This was definitely a historic event and it wasn’t fully understood by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and by the current government. To make myself clear, I will explain. In our life, each person wants to draw a US$1 million winning ticket at lottery or somewhere else. This was our draw ticket for the European Union. We wouldn’t have obtained this status if there hadn’t been this war in Ukraine, if there hadn’t been those situations we experienced. Regrettably, unlike other societies, like the Georgian one, which expressed its dissatisfaction with the fact that their country wasn’t granted the EU candidate status, or the Ukrainians, who fought for their country to become a NATO member and an EU member, the Moldovans reacted somehow calmly. We didn’t show popular support for this idea, but this idea is very important. You should realize that the great ideas need support and presence in the public space. On August 27-31, 1989, we wouldn’t have managed to impose the Romanian language on a Communist regime and the Soviet army and wouldn’t have managed to obtain our Independence on August 27, 1991 without the presence of 700,000 people who exerted extraordinary pressure on all the forces that were hostile and simply overwhelmed and intimidated these,” said Octavian Țîcu.
Victoria Roșa, associate expert of the Foreign Policy Association, said the European Moldova Assembly implies civic elements through which the authorities try to communicate more with the citizens as regards the integration into the EU in a very difficult regional and conjunctural situation. “Certainly, we cannot say that it is fully apolitical as the European integration course is a process that implies political processes. Therefore, there are particular political nuances. But it should be noted that this event is yet organized on the initiative of the President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu and is meant to unite society around a national idea – the European integration idea – that practically transform both society in the Republic of Moldova and the institutional bodies. From this viewpoint, I would consider it an apolitical event, but we cannot exclude the political connotations I mentioned. It is very important to hold such events as only this way we can engage the population in an open and balanced process of discussions and also of informing about the European integration process. You should know that a lot of things occur at institutional level, but these processes are understood less by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. Therefore, it is very important for the European integration process to contain particular civic processes,” stated Victoria Roșa.
Former MP Kiril Motspan, deputy chairman of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” (PPDA), ex-head of the parliamentary commission on national security, said that such events are important, but the planned assembly is late. However, the rally is important in the context of the European Political Community Summit that Moldova will host on June 1. But there are particular security risks. “The police will have to become involved to the maximum, but I hope that the other part of society, which does not want the country to integrate into Europe, will realize the importance of this event. Any conflict situation, any attempt to causes melee and other things should be stopped straightway. I think the law has sufficient force, but I repeat, we do not want the use of violence or actions that would transmit a bad signal to our partners from Europe. We should not forget that a historic, epochal event will take place on June 1 as the leaders of over 40 states will come and this means a lot for the Republic of Moldova,” he stated.
Kiril Motspan noted that the European Moldova Assembly should be an event that will unite society and will transmit to the European partners a clear message that the Republic of Moldova wants to become part of the EU, especially because is plays host to European Political Community Summit and will welcome the leaders of many states. This is a boundless message of support for Moldova’s European choice and the whole population should accept and realize it. “Unfortunately, a rupture appeared between a part of society, which is pro-European, and another, rather consistent part, which is far from the national interests of the Republic of Moldova,” said the deputy chairman of the PPDA.
The public debate entitled “National Assembly of May 21, stakes of event and political risks in connection with the European Political Community Summit” was held as part of IPN’s project “Support for European Integration by stimulating discussion in the mass media about the European Political Community (EPC) Summit” that is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.
