The living conditions decisively determine the quality and even length of life of people, while the low living standards, close to the poverty line, pose a real danger to the life of these people. The living standards also determine mostly the political and geopolitical options. The poorer are the people, the greater is the risk that these will vote for authoritarian, nondemocratic offers, which even incite hatred and war. This way, poverty can pose a real threat to the democratic character of the state in which these live. Since its existence, the Republic of Moldova has been known as the poorest country in Europe. The experts invited to IPN’s public debate “Poverty in Moldova: social, political and geopolitical dangers” discussed the dangers generated by this state of affairs for the present and future of the country, for its democratic and European course, what can and should be done to diminish or deal with these dangers as soon as possible.
Igor Boţan, the permanent expert of IPN’s project, explained that poverty is defined as “absence of material means needed for existence”. According to him, there is only one international criterion for defining “absolute poverty”. They usually resort to setting an absolute poverty ceiling – lack of funds for purchasing at least a quantity of goods that cost a particular sum of money. The advantage of defining poverty through money is that figures, data and statistics can be easily obtained. “On the other hand, the real lives of the people are much more complex and such a definition related to the financial resources is not sufficient therefore. Poverty should be assessed not only through the peoples’ wallet, but also through their everyday life, like if they have access to clean water and also to newspapers and the Internet, if they have possibilities to become involved in the political and cultural life,” stated Igor Boțan.
He noted that the UN drafted a long line of criteria with the assistance of which the development level of each state – the so-called human development index – is determined. “Respectively, poverty means disadvantages in all the areas of life: education, culture, health, and home. To overcome poverty, all the mentioned areas should be improved. The educational policy, sanitary system should be in the focus of the authorities so that poverty could be combated. Article 47 of the Constitution, which refers to the right to assistance and social protection, provides that the state is obliged to take measures for any person to have decent living conditions that would ensure the health and well-being of the persons and their families, including food, clothing, medical care and the necessary social services. This way, it is clear that Moldova is a social state and the Government and the responsible ministry are directly in charge of the eradication of poverty,” stated Igor Boțan.
Tatiana Puiu, vice president of the European Committee for Social Rights, said that statistics provided by Eurostat in 2021 showed that Romania, Bulgaria or Greece have much higher poverty figures than the Republic of Moldova. For example, Romania in the rankings had a poverty rate of about 35% of the population – persons who face the risk of poverty and social exclusion. When speaking about poverty, one should not center on particular segments of poverty, such as the difficulty in accessing food, hot water, electricity, but should focus on an important aspect, such as social exclusion. In pursuit of a better life, the persons take up three jobs and forget that the interhuman relations are affected and the social life is ignored.
Tatiana Puiu noted that the children are affected by poverty the most. “For children, the access to high-quality education is a problematic aspect. Most of the times, the school and out-of-school activities become a luxury and this is valid not only for the Republic of Moldova, but also for other states that are in the region. When one experiences poverty, it is hard to purchase a musical instrument to study music, to buy a sports suit to practice sports professionally. The social exclusion has a very great impact on the future of generations,” stated Tatiana Puiu.
PAS MP Dan Perciun, chairman of the Parliament’s commission on social protection, health and family, said that the poverty rate is the criterion according to which Moldova was declared the poorest state in Europe. This rate in Moldova is determined slightly differently that they do it in the EU. That’s why the statistics of Romania or Bulgaria can be higher. In Moldova, the poverty indicator starts from fixed calculations related to the minimum subsistence level expressed also in the form of calories that need to be taken in by a person. The EU abandoned long ago such a methodology. The reasons for poverty start from the effects of transition that had an effect on society, from the poor governance witnessed in time and from the exodus of the population. On the one hand, Moldova faces a higher poverty rate. On the other hand, with the diminishing and ageing workforce, the integration into the EU and the accessing of EU funds are the short-, medium- and-long term solution to these problems.
According to Dan Perciun, the current situation was reached because the country had been robbed for 30 years and the production capacity and capital were lost together with the dismemberment of the USSR. As a result, economic decline had been witnessed during many years and the country’s GDP during the first years after the declaring of independence decreased dramatically. “This loss could have been recovered with a political class with a clear pro-European orientation. According to the last statistics, Romania caught up with Portugal in terms of the average earnings in the EU. During the next decade, it hopes to reach the average official pay in the EU. Regrettably, the structural factors witnessed by the Republic of Moldova, with an aging population, make the overcoming of the situation difficult. EU funds are needed to give an impetus so as to help narrow the gap with Romania initially and then with the EU,” stated the MP.
Sociologist Vadim Pistrinciuc, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, said the harshest and saddest social challenges are those that affect the family life, the life, health and education of children. “Very often, absolute poverty, pauperization are accompanied by serious problems, family disorganization and involvement in the education and development of children under a critical level, malnutrition, different diseases in the family. This is the biggest social danger that affects the future generations. The children from very poor families are deprived of high-quality educational services following family disorganization, while alcohol abuse in the family worsens the situation. They are marginalized in terms of essential services. The person does not have access to food products, health services, etc. This prevents whole generations from breaking the poverty circle. Poverty is often tied to objective factors, such as the impossibility of working, disability. The good side is that there is a network of social assistants. There are mayor’s offices and the people are close to such institutions and it selfdom happens that the situation of these families remains unknown,” stated the expert.
According to him, a very large number of poor people can generate social uprisings that later contribute to the political impacts of poverty. The poor population is much more open to populist, radical, marginal messages and very simple promises. “However, poverty has the greatest impact on children and the future generations as this affects the work capacity, education, skills of this generation and, regrettably, poverty can often acquire a generational form and is passed on as inheritance because the children lack goods and services,” noted Vadim Pistrinciuc.
The public debate entitled “Poverty in Moldova: social, political and geopolitical dangers?” was the 282nd installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
