President Maia Sandu’s initiative to organize a referendum in which citizens would pronounce on the country’s entry into the European Union is not surprising, the permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Botan stated in a public debate titled “Consensus and rivalry in the pro-EU referendum”. He said that through such an initiative, the head of state took a step towards the opposition, IPN reports.
The expert noted that if we asked President Sandu about this initiative, she could say that it is not a surprise when the main opposition force on December 19 amended its statutory documents and the party’s program now stipulates that any kind of initiatives on accession, either to the European Union or to the Eurasian Union, must be subject to a referendum.
“Missis President did not insist that the elections and the referendum should take place on the same day. Parliament decided: “why not?” and explained why. Elections will take place in a year. The Venice Commission recommended that changes to the Code should be made during about a year and Parliament comes and tells us: why should we not do this now given that for several years opinion polls have shown that 55%-60% of citizens who are permanently in the country support the European integration, while 80%-85% of citizens who are abroad usually vote for pro-European parties and we can admit that they support the European course. Where would a surprise be taken in this situation? On the contrary, we want confirmation and we are going towards the opposition,” the expert said.
In his opinion, the government could say that there are pro-European, opposition parties that insist on signing an agreement similar to the Snagov Pact, which was signed by the leaders of the parliamentary parties in Romania. But signing an agreement similar to the Snagov Pact means a kind of consensus between political parties. The political parties are not the masters of the electorate and the voters can be asked directly at a referendum about the European integration.
Igor Botan said that, according to the legislation, when a referendum is called, the political parties can group into parties that support and that do not support. There are 60 registered parties in Moldova and exactly half of them say they are pro-European. “Maia Sandu can come and say: “Dear people, why are we afraid of this referendum? I am an independent candidate. I cannot be different and I said this. So, you, the pro-European parties, can sit down and, ahead of the elections, stipulate in a document similar to the Snagov Pact that in this referendum you will support the European course. We combine several things that settle very nicely,” stated the expert.
He agreed with other participants in the debate, who said that the actions of politicians, especially of those who are in power, must be predictable, but predictability for the ordinary citizens is boring. Therefore, such surprises “electrify society”. Igor Botan also said that this year will pass under the auspices of debates on the referendum.
The public debate entitled “Consensus and rivalry in the pro-EU referendum” was the 297th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany
