“Almost all who came to power had a single goal – to make a fortune...” interview by Info-Prim Neo with Gheorghe Amihalachioae, president of the Bar Association of Moldova

[- Is the 16th Anniversary of independence somehow distinct from other anniversaries?] I don’t think it has any distinctive signs, but clearly, every year the anniversary becomes less and less meaningful and is practically forgotten. [- How do you think, what are Moldova’s biggest achievements and failures during these 16 years of its independence?] There is one achievement – we became an independent state and that’s it. But there are many failures – we are not an integral state, with a developed economy a decent living standards, but instead we are the poorest people, with communists ruling the state, and many more other failures. [- Why do you reckon that Moldova is qualified as the poorest state in Europe, with a recent survey by the U.S. magazine “Foreign Policy” showing Moldova on its Independence Anniversary’s eve as the least stable country in Europe? When and how it will be able to get rid of these names?] The poorest state qualification is due to bad governance. All of those who were in charge of the government had only one goal – to get as much as possible money for themselves and their relatives. They were not preoccupied about the problems in the country’s development and progress. [- Do you think that the European integration as a strategic goal of independent Moldova is irreversible?] Yes, I do. But the integration has to be a real one, with a real program of economic and political development according to European standards, not with false and empty statements, like the current government does. [- Do you think that, a year after changing the name of the national holiday from “Independence Day” into “Republic’s Day”, the change is justified?] I don’t think so. Because of this change, the meaning of the holiday has been lost and the events before and during the independence proclamation have been forgotten. The patriotic spirit of that time is erased from the memory of our citizens. [- To what extent the Moldovan people deserved their leaders during the independence time, or do you think that the latter didn’t get on well with their own people?] Yes, the people have the government that they deserve, but the people didn’t get on well with the leaders they had then, and especially they don’t get on well with the present government.