On May 9, the people should not be on the opposite sides of the barricade, while the politicians’ attempt to reconcile society had the opposite effect. “I don’t think there are no reasons to believe that Victory Day and Europe Day that are celebrated the same day will lead to conciliation in the future. Political parties pursue the goal of using symbols as a social ferment to make people wake up and associate themselves with a party or another or with a bloc of parties. After the law (e.n. by which Europe Day was instituted) was adopted in Parliament, we have an even deeper cleavage on May 9 and I think such a situation will continue,” expert Igor Botan said in the public debate “May 9 – holiday that unites and divides” that was held by IPN News Agency in concert with Radio Moldova.
The IPN project’s standing expert Igor Botan Igor said those who celebrate Victory Day and do not accept Europe Day associate themselves with the Eurasian integration course and vice versa. “But we should not pretend that we do not understand the absolutely new context this year, after the Constitutional Court on May 2 decided that the territory from the left side of the Nistru is occupied. If this is an occupied territory, we, those who share one opinion or another, should ask ourselves what happened and who occupied this territory? This aspect should be taken into account,” he stated.
“If the Democratic Party, when it proposed that Europe Day should be celebrated on May 9, took into consideration the Constitutional Court’s decision, they should say it clearly that they acted so because there is a decision by the Constitutional Court, whose statute nobody can review. If we look at things from legal viewpoint, we see that we have something unique in our society. I, as a citizen, do not see a problem in celebrating two holidays the same day. Our grandparents started the war with an army and ended it victoriously with another army. This is how things stood,” said Igor Botan, noting that the goal to achieve reconciliation pursued by the PDM wasn’t achieved as the result is the opposite.
In the same connection, the expert said that from political viewpoint, it is an intelligent move aimed at mingling the two holidays so that no one understands who and what they are for.
Asked to explain the position of the supporters of “Victory Day without Europe Day” as an expert, Igor Botan said if he had supported the Eurasian integration idea, he would have explained that the May 9 holiday is a traditional one that has been marked for many decades. Such a request was made to the expert because the representative of the Party of Communists confirmed his participation, but didn’t come to the debate.
“Our grandparents, in the situation in which they were, had to fight. Those who fought together with the Soviets are winners, but we should now see what we can do to eliminate the division in society. I don’t think the parties would step aside and would stop promoting ideologically these significances. What matters is that they should do it sincerely and do not camouflage this with the purpose of introducing all kinds of things to confuse the people,” said the expert.
The public debate “May 9 – holiday that unites and divides” is the 72nd installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are staged with assistance from the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
