The politicians negotiating the formation of the pro-European parliamentary majority are hiding from society because they are discussing schemes and personal interests instead of public issues, says Igor Botan, director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) and permanent guest of the IPN project. The analyst attended alongside other civil society representatives the debate “Society and the political class show a poor understanding of the public nature of negotiations on coalition formation: reasons, dangers, solutions”, organized by IPN in partnership with Radio Moldova.
“They're discussing schemes. I think we have the right to suppose that if they keep their talks secret, it's because they are discussing schemes through which they and their clans will get rich. Otherwise, if they are discussing matters of public interest, why are they hiding? We are left to believe that they are negotiating schemes. We recall when they shared spheres of influence in 2010 and then we had the scandals with the banks, the Royal Forest, etc.”, said Botan.
The expert, also a member of the Initiative For a Responsible Government, admitted that politicians might break silence and tell him that they aren't discussing schemes. “But then we'll them it's their fault and that they are making an even bigger mistake. They are continuing to hide and to keep secret their talks. Even the ministers or deputy ministers don't know what the parties are negotiating and, as such, are paralyzed. They are in fact discussing schemes and this corroborates with the conclusion of Transparency International that the biggest problem of this country is corruption”, stated Botan.
According to him, civil society demands at least a minimum of communication from the politicians. “In the Cabinet, there are people totally unaware of what's being negotiated, deputy ministers who don't know anything. That they don't talk to us it's nothing compared to the fact that they don't talk to their own people. The owe us a normal degree of communication because their wages are paid from our contributions. But they actually don't earn a living from their wages, they earn a living from their schemes and as such don't owe us any explanation. They laugh when we tell them that they live on our taxes. They must say clearly that they live from schemes, not wages”, said the expert.
The debate “Society and the political class show a poor understanding of the public nature of negotiations on coalition formation: reasons, dangers, solutions” is the 36th in the series “Developing political culture in public debates”, organized with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
