President Igor Dodon and the Party of Socialists, as in the previous election campaigns, return to the practice of reanimating interethnic tensions in Moldovan society. The PSRM registered a bill to amend the law on the special legal status of Gagauzia that contains provisions that run counter to the Constitution. Being aware that the bill will not be adopted in Parliament, Igor Dodon could blame the Romanian nationalists and unionists in the campaign preceding the presidential elections, IPN quoted PAS MP Oazu Nantoi as saying in a news conference.
The MP, who is a member of the common working group of the Parliament and the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, said that earlier Speaker Zinaida Grechanyi, who heads the pro-presidential party PSRM, noted that the bills discussed by the working group will be included in the legislature’s agenda only after they are consulted with all the sides. Regrettably, these commitments made to the foreign partners were not fulfilled.
According to Oazu Nantoi, ignoring the activity and objectives of the working group, the Socialist MPs on July 16 introduced three bills that concern ATU Gagauzia in parliamentary procedure. Later these bills were approved by the Parliament’s legal commission on appointments and immunity that is controlled by the PSRM. The bill to amend the law on the special legal status of Gagauzia can be adopted by the votes of at least 3/5 of the MPs and implies a broad consensus.
“This cynical and irresponsible gesture of the PSRM was clearly determined by the electoral ambitions of President Igor Dodon. They both consciously provoke the non-adoption of these bills so that they could appear before the voters in ATU Gagauzia and blame the Romanian and unionist nationalists from Parliament in the campaign prior to the presidential elections of November 2020,” stated the PAS MP, noting that Igor Dodon and the PSRM are political provocateurs ready to sacrifice interethnic peace in the Republic of Moldova for the sake of power.
Oazu Nantoi presented an open letter addressed to the citizens of ATU Gagauzia and the OSCE High Commission for National Minorities in connection with the premeditated actions taken by President Igor Dodon, whose goal is to incite interethnic hatred in Moldovan society.
Contacted by IPN for a reaction to the MP’s statements, Carmena Sterpu, senior consultant in the Presidential Administration’s Protocol and Communication Division said the President does his best to keep peace and social and interethnic harmony in Moldova. “Compared with the 1990s, when the interethnic conflicts where caused by the irresponsibility of the then politicians, today we have conciliation and constitutional order in the country,” stated Carmena Sterpu.
