NATO's Information and Documentation Center (ICD NATO) in Moldova presented the results of an opinion poll on public perception on the security and defense system. The Bucharest Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Center chair, Iulian Chifu, said during an IPN press conference, that a certain degree of maturity can be observed among the population, even if the citizens talk mostly about their own perceptions and concerns, which are not necessarily security-related.
"The opinion poll has different levels of interpretation. It should be noted that the Moldovan population reacted in relation to the models, which allows us to see a certain type of maturity in terms of their own perceptions and a certain level of knowledge. The first level of interpretation concerns the results of the survey. Another interpretation level is related to models, values and the concerns and the agenda of the citizen. These are very important in relation to authority. To see what the citizen's agenda looks like, how certain items that are not, for example, related to national security are important to the citizen, to the extent that the citizen places said items in this sequence. And last but not least, a different interpretation concerns the level of understanding and security culture in society. This is where we see major deficits", said Iulian Chifu.
"If we take a look at Russia, we clearly see a dissonance in the fact that it is named by respondents as the biggest threat, while, equally, it would be the second or third country that could step forward to support Moldova in the event of a threat. It is a dissonance that betrays a poor level of security culture, where civil society has major responsibilities", said Iulian Chifu.
Viorel Ciubotaru, European Institute for Policy Studies in Moldova (EIPSM) director and co-founder of ICD NATO, said that the interest in the security field is not limited to the survey. However, the EIPSM director would like the survey to be a starting point that allows the development of other topics regarding security institutions reform and the development of a security culture.
The survey is part of a project whose results of which will be made public at the end of September this year. CBS-Research was chosen to carry out the survey following dialogues with the best Moldovan survey companies and analysis of their results. Elena Mârzac, executive director of ICD NATO Moldova, said that she hopes that government institutions will use the survey results in order to develop policies.
