The perception that the European integration represents an elitist project without major impact on the whole population has circulated in the Moldovan public sphere for a period, expert in political sciences Dionis Cenusa says in an opinion article for IPN News Agency.
The politologist describes three elements that fuel the feeling that the European integration is an elitist process.
The first aspect resides in the perception of the utility of the European project in relation to social groups in need. The public would like the European assistance to be used to increase salaries and pensions rather than to reform institutions or adjust the legislation. Instead of investments in the public sector or the judicial one, which are considered inefficient and corrupt, the ordinary citizens would like the effects of the European integration to include the rapid improvement of the living conditions.
The second aspect refers to the functionality of the European integration. The public dissatisfaction with the local pro-European elites responsible for the effective functioning of the European agenda intensified Euro-skepticism among the Moldovans. The estrangement of the public from the European integration idea, including as a form to refuse complicity with corruptible governments, was provoked by numerous deviations of the pro-European political elite and by the prolonged tolerance of this and late punishment of it by the EU.
The defective communication about the EU’s role in Moldova is the third source that facilitates speculations about the elitism of the European integration. Even if the information about the impact of the European agenda expands qualitatively and quantitatively, this circulates slower than the image of the failures of the governments associated with the European course.
The EU’s preoccupations should include the ensuring of the precise functioning of the European agenda, promotion and protection of the interests of the general public and criticizing of the government’s deviations in a public and harsh way. Otherwise, the European integration will not manage to gain popularity to annihilate the speculations about elitism and to conquer the mind, heart and stomach of the Moldovan public, wrote Dionis Cenusa.
