AEI has never been close to collapse, Vlad Filat

[Info-Prim Neo interview with Moldova’s Prime Minister Vlad Filat, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, of the series “2011: how it was and how it wasn’t”] [ - Are there areas of activity in our country that you can say are not within the remit of the Premier?] - I would like to be able to say so, but the Premier is responsible for all the areas of activity. Therefore, I assume this responsibility. [ - Did you ever think of resigning in 2011?] - It is human to have such thoughts. I had them as any other person. But I did not seriously intend to resign. Even if it was hard for met, the commitments I made and the responsibility I took prevail over my human states. That’s why the given position, and not only this post, makes you adopt such a behavioral and decisional approach. [ - Which moments of 2011 you consider the most difficult?] - There were sufficient difficult moments in 2011 and the people know them. My greatest regret is that in 2011 we did not manage to create a positive atmosphere for the people. Unfortunately, the tones of the inherent discussions were probably higher and contributed to maintaining a negative atmosphere in society. This enabled some of the political forces to maintain the language and actions aimed at keeping society divided. [ - What grade would you give to you and the Government in 2011?] - I’m not in the situation to give grades. There are people who have the right to assess my work, as a Prime Minister, and of the government in general. Grades are given when you present reports before the people and when you ask for support for the future. These moments come when there are elections. [ - Which are the greatest two accomplishments and failures of the Government this year?] - The greatest accomplishment is that despite the political instability in our country we managed to maintain our European course. We made qualitative progress in this process. The second achievement is the fact that we coped with the economic situation and managed to obtain economic growth, fully meeting the macroeconomic parameters. As a result, we made the payments on time, have a realistic and balanced budget for 2012 and a European integration process that is in strict compliance with the agreed plan and the commitments we made to the people and the European partners. As to the economic development, I want to say that it is not easy to obtain economic growth during two consecutive years when there is a deep world economic crisis. In 2010, we had an economic growth of 6.9% and the growth in 2011 is expected to be as high, and this is an accomplishment. The non-election of the head of state is a failure, but not only of the Government, but also of the whole administration. This uncertainty will continue at the start of 2012. Another failure is the lack of results as regards the reform of the justice sector. It is the most complicated area and the most serious challenge as concerns the reforms. When I speak about justice, I mean all the institutions working in the field, including the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior, the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime, the courts of law, and how justice is done in the country. [ - Has Moldova used all the chances it had at internal and foreign levels this year?] - We do not have arrears at foreign level. We achieved the objectives we set for 2011. At internal level, we surely did not take all the opportunities. We lag behind in many arrears, including the justice sector, demonopolization in the economic sphere. We started certain processes that were stopped for subjective reasons. In other cases, the processes were stopped because of subjective reasons, but I will not elaborate. [ - What about the inspections of drug prices that you initiated? What are the results of the control of demonopolization of trade in meat, fish and other products?] - We can say that the import and trade in meat and fish are now demonopolized. As to the drugs, the steps taken at the first stage produced the expected results. At least we brought things in order as regards the prices. Besides instituting a Catalogue of Prices, we devised better regulations defining the way the pharmaceutical institutions should work. We can say with certitude that there is no monopoly in this area at present. But work is yet to be done. The next steps will be aimed at enforcing the adjusted normative framework so that the institutions work in accordance with it, starting with the declaration of drug prices and ending with the sale of drugs. A separate role in the next period will be played by the Medication Agency. At the initial stage, the Health Ministry performed a series of duties that will be now fulfilled again by this institution, which will also witness changes in the administration. There will be named a new manager. It is a person coming from outside, who has the necessary managerial skills. In the end, these steps will help clarify the situation and achieve the major objective. When I speak about medications, I give an example as we must do the same things in other areas as well. [ - The Government was the target of different protests staged in 2011. How do you assess them as phenomena and social motives?] - Our state is a democratic one. In a democracy, the people have rights and freedoms, including the right to protest. There were indeed a series of protests. Some of them were social in character or focused on an objective problem. Even if most of these protests did not target the governmental institutions, many people came before the Government Building because they encountered problems in the justice sector or at the Prosecutor’s Office. I do not consider these protests something negative. If other events do not reach the state institutions, the protests have the right to life as they have a force. However, other protests were markedly political in character, but were hiding behind social claims. Unfortunately, those who organized them did not think about the people whom they mobilized, but rather about their own interests. I’m not satisfied with the size of pensions and salaries and want them to be higher and be paid on time. It is yet one thing to take to the streets and put forward claims and it is another thing to bear responsibility and be able to offer something. The current period makes us to be prudent and very responsible as regards the commitments and expenses. [ - The Government is often accused of acting as it acts to meet the expectations of the foreign partners, sometimes to the detriment of the people’s interests...] - It is very easy to make accusations. I want to say that our development partners have the same interests as we, the authorities and the Moldovan people - to have a functional economy and institutions in our country, working based on laws. They tried to invent a ‘Moldovan’ democracy and certain functioning principles for the Moldovan economy, but they do not work. We are integrated into the global processes. We can learn from the experience and work and regulation models of other countries so as to advance quicker. That’s why all the requests of our development partners make us to be Euro-compliant so that we come gradually closer to the European Union. Those who level such criticism should realize that not the EU joins Moldova, but Moldova aims to join the EU and this is its key objective. [ - They say the Government takes out loans more for current consumption and spending rather than for investments, in comparison with the Chisinau City Hall, which gives other kinds of examples...] - If we hadn’t taken out those loans from the development partners, the Chisinau City Hall would have never been able to get investment loans. Those investment loans used to purchase units of transport anyway go for consumption as they do not generate profit. If we look at the volume of projects that were initiated and are implemented by the Government in investment areas, we will have direct answers to these insinuations. I would like to have better partnership or cooperation relations with the local authorities, more exactly with some of them. [ - How did the consultations with civil society held in summer end?] - These consultations played a very important role in the steps taken afterward. At least they helped me understand what’s happening in an area or another. I’m sure that they were necessary. The message I conveyed was necessary for the processes in Moldova to have meaning. A part of the plans were fulfilled, while the other part remained in the agenda. For example, I will not give up demanding depoliticizing the law enforcement bodies of Moldova. We must clearly set the priorities for the people, not a certain political party or the ruling alliance. [ - Did the hiring and firing in the Cabinet and some of the public institutions produce the projected results?] - Two ministers have been replaced. In one case, the replacement was justified, while in the other case it wasn’t. You can never know for sure. That’s why assessments are made regularly and if things do not go as planned, there are made changes. We cannot keep a person if the area for which this person is responsible is managed badly. I see no tragedy in replacing a functionary. It is important that this thing is understood and we will act accordingly in the immediate period. [ - A number of serious crimes happened in 2011. A part of them haven’t been discovered and this causes tension in society. Why does it happen so?] - Serious crimes happened not only in 2011, not only in 2010 and 2009 and not only in Moldova. Regretfully, our society includes criminals and some of the offenses committed by them have not been yet discovered. The state institutions perform investigations and I’m sure we will have results. The case of Turcanu and the Durlesti crime continue to be investigated and the Government shouldn’t intervene in the work of the law enforcement bodies. We made the related approaches and hope that these crimes will be soon discovered. It is very important that the people realize that we all have a role in educating society as a person does not become an offender overnight. [ - What is the quality of the AEI 2 after one year of government? Is the alliance still ‘of concrete’?] - I’m judging by the results, not the polemics and the discussions held this year. I regret it that we didn’t manage to establish a calmer and friendlier atmosphere, but we succeeded in achieving most of the set objectives. The Government was functional, the legislative body adopted laws proposed by the executive and the alliance proved its functionality, according to the results, not the appearances or certain divergences. There is certainly room for better and I hope that next year we will have better communication and a more efficient decision-making process. [ - The alliance was often close to collapse. Why so and what kept the AEI parties together?] - I don’t think the alliance has ever been close to collapse. There were tense moments, but we were friends before the first and second alliances were formed. There are many divergent viewpoints in important areas, but the fact that three parties that formed an alliance pursue the common goal of building society based on a democratic government, European integration and reforms was much more powerful than the divergences and arguments we had during the year. We must bear in mind that we have responsibility towards the persons who voted for the member parties of the alliance. [ - To what extent have the relations inside the AEI and the country in general been regulated by the written and unwritten rules of the AEI agreement?] - The agreement has been mainly fulfilled and we experience no problems in this respect. The only issue is the election of the President of Moldova, but this doesn’t depend only on the parties of the alliance because we miss two votes. The PLDM put forward a series of proposals and we saw over time that they were rational. If they had been heard, they would have produced results. We accepted and respected all the wishes and requests of the alliance partners. We have not yet managed to elect the head of state, but the agreement, except this matter, has been obeyed. [ - If time was turned back, would the AEI agreement remain the same?] - If time was turned back, I wouldn’t accept forced negotiation. An agreement centering on four years of government must be negotiated in a clam atmosphere, by assessing the prospects of the provisions of this agreement. We had to balance certain situations and areas so that they represented the people’s votes, not only the requests of a party or another. The experience of advanced democracies shows that things stand very clear – one has power to govern to the extent to which the voters allow. In our country they still think that despite the poorer result in elections, they have power as governance without them is not possible. This is not right as this unbalances government. [ - Why wasn’t the head of state elected?] - The President wasn’t elected because we did not have the necessary number of votes. We said that it is irrational to start the procedure for electing the head of state when we do not have the number of votes needed. Consequently, no candidate was registered for the presidential elections set for November 18. We couldn’t secure the necessary votes until December 16 and failed again to elect the head of state. We had to go though a nervous patch that caused anger among the people. We should have set the priorities and negotiated, especially because we now have 62 non-Communist votes. [ - Will he/she be elected?] - The head of state must be elected and this depends on the politicians’ ability. We will come together to decide what we will do on January 15. If Mister Lupu does not run for President, Mister Dodon may vote for a candidate coming from outside the alliance and we will have those 62 votes. We are ready to make compromises so that the President is elected. [ - What results do you project to achieve in the possible early elections?] - We have the capacity to mobilize rapidly and cope with the challenges, including electoral ones. But I do not want to project results. They will be in line with the commitments we fulfilled and the work we did and will do in the campaign. But the results of one party are not important. It is evident that Moldova will no longer be governed by one party. It will be governed by a coalition and this is good for us. We do not want early elections, but if they take place we must have a functional coalition in Parliament as a result of them so that we continue the initiated processes because there are clear European prospects that can be achieved. We must prevent oscillations in the country’s development. [ - Isn’t another form of government possible in Moldova, besides the coalition government?] - The coalition governments are complicated for those who govern, but they are the best form for the country and society as the power is functional and efficient when it is controlled. The executive power is controlled by Parliament. Civil society, the press and the justice also assess the legality of the Government’s acts. But when one has powerful control, when there are several parties in power and several viewpoints, the quality of governance improves. There appear difficulties as well, but they involve the politicians, not society. The political struggles are held in Parliament and the Government so that they do not pass to society. The heated discussions in Parliament are not necessarily bad. [ - How did the Communist Party perform as an opposition party in Parliament? What can you say about the resignation request made by the PCRM and the National Civil Congress?] - The Communist Party is an opposition party and the opposition’s role is to be opposed to the government and to emphasize the bad sides. When the opposition is healthy, it helps the government. The opposition is a powerful instrument for controlling the power. Unfortunately, the opposition in Moldova is destructive, not because it demands that the Government should resign and criticizes the executive, but because it divides society. It continues to crassly manipulate public opinion, aiming to divide the people according to ethnic criteria and based on sensitive issues and this is serious. Moldova needs unity now more than ever. It is serious when they try to keep people on barricades. I sincerely regret it. The political competition shouldn’t turn into battle and destruction. [ - What should the political class of Moldova expect in 2012?] - The political class in 2012 must do its duty. It must be sufficiently rational so as to fulfill the promises made to the people. [ - What should the Moldovan people expect in 2012?] - Next year the people of Moldova will sense the first results of the initiated reforms and investment projects. 2012 will be the year of results and will reveal the necessity of the steps that we took in 2010-2011. I think this fact will unite society. I hope that in 2012 we will achieve important results in settling the Transnistrian conflict. The preconditions were created and we should have an accomplishment. [Irina Turcanu, Info-Prim Neo]