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| Dionis Cenuşa | |
The European capital has its eye on the political situation in Chisinau. Voices in different important European institutions (European Parliament and the Europe External Action Service) expressed concern about the fact that the political chaos in Moldova is worsening and leads to early parliamentary elections with gloomy forecasts for the country’s European course. A state of bewilderment persists as to the fully selfish and incoherent acts of the Moldovan politicians, which are still classed as pro-Europeans. Few in Brussels can now forecast what direction exactly Moldova will follow, but everyone there is sure that the current political class underestimates or even ignores the political, economic and social crises and their consequences in Moldova.
Moldova is no longer a leader of Eastern Partnership
A decreasing number of Europeans dare to say now that Moldova was a ‘success story’ once. But more tend to emphasize that Moldova had been a leader in doing sector reforms, such as the liberalization of the visa regime.
The general perception in Brussels is that Georgia is the new ‘leader’ of the Eastern Partnership. Despite the regression seen by Georgia, related to the independence of the media outlets and selective justice, the Europeans’ attitude to this is critical, but rather moderate. This contrasts considerably with the powerfully negative perception of Moldova. The Europeans’ dissatisfaction is correlated with the clear absence of a wish of the Moldovan political parties to abandon the private interests in favor of beneficial solutions for the people and, respectively for the national interests.
Moreover, even if Ukraine faces major problems (corruption, inefficient public administration, defective banking system, etc.), the Europeans have a more tolerant attitude to this. This is due to the fact that the pro-EU Ukrainians didn’t discredit themselves to the same extent as the pro-European politicians in Moldova did. At the same time, the situation in Ukraine is analyzed by the EU trough the angle of the threats generated by Russia to regional security, in particular the military and energy ones. That’s why Georgia and Ukraine have better positions than Moldova in the EU’s perception of the Eastern Partnership.
Instead of conclusion…
After six years of so-called pro-European coalitions, Brussels has serious doubts about the irreversibility of Moldova’s European course. Though the collapse of the so-called pro-European forces is an accomplished fact that is well known by the political circles in Brussels, there is mainly unjustified hope that the European integration can be yet maintained. Some consider that the European agendas will not be fully abandoned by the pro-Russian forces, even if the latter promise this. The reality in Moldova is yet different and the European intuitions should prepare for any scenario, including the most negative ones for the European movement in Moldova.
Even if it is considered that the dependence on the EU is too great to be renounced, the Europeans must show that they learned the lesson following the events in Ukraine or Armenia. The EU should realize that the Moldovan politicians are very unpredictable (as the Ukrainian or Armenian politicians are), but that Russia is even more unpredictable.
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