At what stage of its historical development does Moldova find itself on the eve of its 24th anniversary from economic, political and social points of view? Is the development process normal, fast, slow? What are the lessons we have learned and those we are yet to learn? What are the short-term and long-term prospects of Moldovan society? These are the questions IPN is trying to answer through a series of articles titled “Moldova at 24 years of age: Who are we? Where are we going?”, by speaking to experts from different fields.
---
Serghei Neicovcen, director of Contact Center, says that Moldova is still in transition, even after 24 years of independence. “It's the same situation as 10 years ago, as 15 years ago. We were claiming that Moldova was in transition from a newly-independent country to another level of development. Unfortunately, the situation hasn't changed much and Moldova is still the poorest country in Europe. We are back were we started”, he opined.
Neicovcen notes that Moldova has had the most elections in the post-Soviet space and the political class remains divided. The fact that the country is politically fragmented also slows its development. Another issue is that Moldova's economy has collapsed during the first 10 years of independence. Now, the country is very poor, depending on the energy supply from other countries and on the Russian market for its exports. The level of small and medium entrepreneurship is reduced and the dynamics are slow. The Transnistrian conflict is another brake for the country's development.
The Contact Center director thinks that civil society must play 2 important roles. The first one is to be a guard dog, to monitor the government's actions and respond to provocations. The second one is to support the country in difficult moments, because civil society can take upon itself the burden of some social and economic services.
The political class has to be more responsible. An often discussed fact is that Moldova has no true political parties, only groups of interest. The political class isn't united and represents the interests of a small groups instead of society, which has no control over political parties. We need to try to make the political class more accountable and set in place mechanisms to control it, thinks the expert.
According to Neicovcen, the people still don't see Moldova as their own country and there is no national identity. He thinks we need to find a way to unite the people and make them think about the country and its development. The exodus of people is a lesson for society and government that citizens don't see their future here, don't want to grow their children here and that we must take measures to change this. The country can develop only in the European direction. “We must tell everyone and convince them that the European development model is the only chance for the country's future”, stressed the Contact Center director.
Neicovcen explained that European integration is a process and not a goal by itself. The main objective should the country's development according to the European model. However, the recent developments in Moldova may halt this process. Moldova is at its lowest point since announcing European integration as its goal.
Mariana Galben, IPN
