The political prospects for 2023 are difficult as the Russo-Ukrainian war will yet last and will further generate challenges for the Republic of Moldova, political pundit Ion Tăbîrță stated for IPN.
At the level of internal policy, the government in 2023 should start to deliver results for the citizens as it would have been in power for over half of its term and the rhetoric that “nothing had been done before us and we need to do it” will no longer work. “The government will have to deliver particular accomplishments as a result of over two years of government. Depending on these, we will realize the policy perspectives for the future political cycle,” he stated.
According to Ion Tăbîrță, 2022 was dominated rather by the foreign factor that seriously influenced Moldova’s domestic policy. The war in Ukraine has been the event of the largest scale on the European continent the past over 70 years. As Moldova is close to the warzone, it fully feels the negative consequences of this war, starting from the refugee crisis and disruption of the traditional economic-commercial chains and continuing with other aspects related to the energy policy that caused big headaches to the government. The living standards declined, while the rate of inflation reached record highs, of almost 40% at yearend.
Nevertheless, 2022 brought also opportunities to Moldova as the EU reviewed its enlargement paradigm and Moldova obtained a clear European perspective alongside Ukraine and Georgia. This way, Moldova enjoys new development opportunities that depend yet on the way in which the country fulfills the nine conditions for starting the accession process.
In 2022, it was seen that the internal reforms, primarily the justice sector reform and the fight against corruption, are given priority. The government regrettably didn’t manage to find ways to stimulate the sector reform. On the contrary, the oligarchic forces led by the Shor Party staged a counterattack and tried at all costs to destabilize the sociopolitical situation in Moldova so as to determine the failure of the pro-European government in Chisinau.
The year 2022 saw no electoral processes but in 2023 Moldova will have a series of electoral exercises that will influence the political perspectives. Local general elections will take place in 2023, presidential elections in 2024 and parliamentary elections in 2025.
This year was ultimately a difficult one, but Moldova resisted and the government in general kept the situation under for control despite particular problems, concluded the expert.
