After the parliamentary elections of this July, Bloomberg noted that Moldova endured years of corruption and scandals, leaving the country of 3.5 million people dependent on foreign funding that’s currently delayed over an erosion of democratic standards and a lack of progress in recovering assets stolen in a $1 billion banking fraud in 2014. Now Washington Post quotes Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliță as saying that “the current government has an extremely important mission, to show people that the Republic of Moldova can be governed by honest people, well-intentioned people”, IPN reports.
The publication writes that Moldova’s parliament on Friday approved the pro-Western president’s government after her party won an early election this summer on promises to improve ties with the European Union and fight corruption. Washington Post notes that “PAS promised closer ties with the European Union instead of Russia and to clean up corruption in Moldova, a country of 3.5 million, Europe’s poorest, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine.”
Associated Press quotes IPN’s senior contributor Dionis Cenușa as saying that Friday’s vote in parliament “proves again that President Sandu’s party has a legislative superiority” and that there is “no visible internal obstacle to produce radical reforms.”
Reuters says Gavrilita, 43, was finance minister when Maia Sandu was prime minister in 2019, in a short-lived government that fell in a no-confidence vote within months. “We will cleanse state institutions of corrupt officials,” Gavrilita said ahead of the vote. Gavrilita's program includes an overhaul of the prosecutor's office, which she accused of slow-rolling corruption cases. Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoianoglo says his office acts in accordance with the law.
Xinhua underlines that in her program, the new prime minister pledged to carry out a judicial reform, fight corruption, attract investments and create well-paid jobs, reduce poverty and increase pensions. She also intends to tackle problems related to migration and low birth rates, insufficient infrastructure, and an underperforming education and health system.
