Arcadie Barbarosie, director of the Institute for Public Policy that compiles the Public Opinion Barometer, said the percentage of those who would vote for Moldova’s entry into the EU declined. “If we analyze things to see who is responsible, volens nolens we turn again to the government. Confidence in the state institutions decreased dramatically, while the institutions of the government take the last positions,” the expert stated in the public debate “Europeanism of Moldovan government and society: responsibilities, affinities and dissimilarities in different periods of pro-European government” that was staged by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova.
“The people want the European model to be implemented here, at home. They want here European roads and healthcare and education as in Europe. They want the rights of pregnant women, persons with disabilities etc. to be respected here. They want justice to be absolutely unpredictable. The people want their basis rights to be guaranteed, the country to be governed by their will and the voted party to keep its promises,” said Arcadie Barbarosie.
According to him, when we try to see why the level of confidence in the state institutions is so low, it becomes evident that the people consider these institutions do not act to satisfy their needs. “The decline in the level of confidence is due to poor governance and to the fact that reforms are not done. Yes, the people see the European integration as a possibility of improving the living standards. But the peoples’ concerns are very great. Corruption is also the responsibility of the people, but the political elites are obliged to destroy this scourge. The political elites so far managed to mislead the people. Regretfully, we reached the current state only because the governments that ruled after 2009 did nothing but steal. One cannot lie to the whole society for a long period of time. In 1998, the agrarians were punished harshly. Others came and these were also penalized. Those who came in 2009 were punished and sent to the opposition,” stated the expert.
He noted polls show that society is not ready for a European development model. “If 54% said it is good to have a party in power, this means laziness to think. The responsibility of the political elites is great. These must draw society after them. Bismarck said the people must be taken there where necessary, not where it wants. But the political elite can take the people where they want, not where they should. Over the Prut, without great pressure from down, they managed to reduce tolerance of corruption. They should not think that the people will tolerate long such a situation. 36% of the people are ready to take part in legal protests, while 8% are ready to take part in illegal protests too. About 70% of the people do not want dictatorship to be established. The distrust in the quality of governance shows that the people realize what is going on,” stated Arcadie Barbarosie.
The public debate entitled “Europeanism of Moldovan government and society: responsibilities, affinities and dissimilarities in different periods of pro-European government” is the 54th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates”. These are organized with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
