Retrospective of a crisis. On the verge of collapse
The beginning of 2013 was marked by a deep political crisis that could have led to early parliamentary elections, while the current government would have experienced a crushing defeat in the polls. The politicians realized yet the risk and overcame the internal misunderstandings. As a result, at the end of November Moldova initialed the Association Agreement with the EU, with the European Commission recommending liberalizing the visa regime for Moldovans. The articles of the series “Retrospective of a crisis. On the verge of collapse” aim to anticipate how the events of 2013 will influence people’s options next year, which is an electoral one, and to formulate conclusions.
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The shot
Politician Sergiu Mocanu, who heads the People’s Movement “Antimafie”, in a news conference on January 6 announced that the then Prosecutor General Valeriu Zubco shot mortally a man during hunting. On December 23, 2012, a young resident of Chisinau Sorin Paciu was injured fatally from a gun near Chetrus settlement. “The senior authorities of Moldova hid this fact,” said the politician.
Ion Bodrug, then Deputy Minister of the Inferior, confirmed that a man aged 34 was wounded during boar hunting in the Domneasca Forest. The man was admitted to the Falesti District Hospital, but the commissioner of Falesti wasn’t informed about this incident, this being a serious violation of the law.
The Prosecutor General’s Office denied the accusations made by Sergiu Mocanu against the prosecutor general. The accusations were described as groundless, serious and unsubstantiated. The hunting involved 30 persons, including judges Ion Plesca and Gheorghe Cretu, the then director of the Forestry Agency “Moldsilva” Ion Lupu and several Chisinau councilors.
Marian Lupu, who was then Head of Parliament, urged prosecutor Valeriu Zubco to suspend himself from post for the period of the investigation into the Paciu case so as to ensure its objectivity. Lupu said Minister of the Interior Dorin Recean should do the same. He called on all the politicians not to speculate on the death of a man.
In a meeting on January 14, the leaders of the Alliance for European Integration agreed to set up a parliamentary commission that would investigate how the law enforcement bodies acted in the Paciu case. Later the commission established that the hunting was illegal.
EU Ambassador to Moldova at that time Dirk Schuebel said the way the investigation into the death of Sorin Paciu is conducted will play an important role in the liberalization of the visa regime for Moldovans.
Prosecutor general resigns
Prosecutor General Valeriu Zubco resigned at the insistence of the then Premier Vlad Filat, who heads the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM), and the Liberal-Democratic parliamentary group. They invoked the defective way in which the Prosecutor’s Office acted in the case of the hunting incident in the Domneasca Forest. On January 21, Parliament held an extraordinary sitting. A number of Liberal-Democratic MPs said the then First Deputy Speaker, Democrat Vlad Plahotniuc should also resign. The Communists insisted on the dismissal of Speaker Marian Lupu.
Another extraordinary sitting of Parliament was called on January 22, at the request of 34 Communist MPs. But the Communist faction boycotted the sitting. The Lib-Dems also didn’t come, arguing the regulations were violated. Marian Lupu said the actions of the two factions were orchestrated. The Democrat told the journalists that the Liberal-Democrats were preparing for elections and they had a secret agreement with the Communist MPs. The chairman of the Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu anticipated two possible scenarios for resolving the crisis that struck the Alliance for European Integration: the war will stop and the old score will be settled, or Vlad Filat and Vlad Plahotniuc will resign from their posts.
PLDM denounces AEI agreement
On February 13, 2013, the PLDM denounced the agreement on the constitution of the Alliance for European Integration (AEI). Vlad Filat said they want to negotiate a new agreement that would exclude the oligarchic principles. According to him, the situation created in the country cannot go on. “Any attempt of political blackmail, any attempt to cause early elections must be immediately stopped. I will no longer tolerate the state institutions to be used in somebody’s interests,” said the Liberal-Democratic leader. On February 14, Vlad Plahotniuc told the journalists he was ready to resign from the post of First Deputy Speaker and the next day Parliament accepted his resignation.
The National Anticorruption Council carried out searches at the house of the then head of the State Main Tax Inspectorate Nicolae Vicol. He was detained and then placed under arrest. The office of the deputy secretary general of the Government Eduard Banaruc was also searched. In a drawer, there were found large sums of money. The media disseminated recordings of phone conversations between Vlad Filat and Nicolae Vicol, where the Premier tells the latter to order carrying out inspections at companies or blocking their bank accounts.
On February 28, the Communist Party (PCRM) put forward a censure motion against the Government. From the central rostrum of Parliament, Communist MP Iurie Muntean said that the Government was corrupt and lost the moral right to manage the country. The Liberals announced they would not vote only because the motion was submitted by the Communists.
Government falls
The Filat Government fell on March 5. The censure motion was adopted by the votes of 54 MPs. The Democrats and Communists said such a Government cannot exist.
The Communist lawmakers, who put forward the censure motion, said that over the last few months those from the Alliance for European Integration accused each other and a number of illegalities emerged. The leader of the PCRM Vladimir Voronin said that early elections must be obligatorily take place following the Government’s dismissal, while the former colleagues from the government coalition should not dare to form a new alliance.
The representatives of the Democratic Party (PDM) who voted for the censure motion said the vote of no confidence was given to Vlad Filat, not to the Cabinet. The PLDM can field a new candidate for the post of Premier as it held the largest number of seats in the government coalition.
For his part, Vlad Filat said the real reason for the Government’s dismissal was the fact that he revealed certain things. According to him, in Moldova there is a personage who, besides controlling the economic processes, controls also the state institutions, which act by his order. ”The key reason is that Plahotniuc was removed from the Parliament’s presidium,” Vlad Filat told the journalists after the legislative body passed the censure motion.
Ion Tabarta: Filat Government had been amputated
Asked by IPN, political analyst Ion Tabarta commented on the events that led to the crisis. Things went well in the Alliance for European Integration, he said. It was evident to everyone that the alliance consisted of two poles – the Liberal Democrat Party and a mini-alliance inside the alliance formed by the Democratic Party and the Liberal Party. Two smaller parties joined together against the larger party.
The Filat Government had been amputated. It didn’t fully control the ministers and any move was to go through the alliance’s filter. The government’s efficiency was reduced. The fact that the alliance’s agreement wasn’t fully respected also caused tensions. The leaders of the parties were to occupy the three top posts in the state (President, Premier, and Speaker), but only the PLDM held the requested post. Furthermore, it was rumored that the disagreements between the PLDM and PDM appeared because of their spheres of influence. The deficit of communication invoked by them arouse because of the reticent relations. The incident in the Domneasca Forest, which led to the appearance of the crisis, relieved how inefficient the state institutions were.
Echoes in electoral year
As regards the image, the fall of the Filat Government will have an impact as there are political forces in Moldova that will employ this fact in the election campaign. It is however the future behavior of the parties that now counts - will they ensure political stability and will they become involved in projects whose effects the people will see? In this case, the created image deficiencies will not have the same impact as at the start of the crisis. “It is evident that the so-called third force will not emerge. The dispute will involve the ruling parties and the Communists. It will matter the cooperation and attitude of the parties of the government coalition,” said Ion Tabarta.
Referring to the lessons that can be learned from the spring crisis, the analyst said that when two struggle, the third wins. The Communists voted exactly when they were supposed to and were very close to returning to power. If early elections had been held, their chances to return to power would have been very great and Moldova’s European future would have been in a serious danger.
If the ruling parties maintain the alliance by the end of next year, it will be the first government coalition that will complete its duties until the end. The governance of the previous coalitions ended in early elections. Ion Tabarta considers that the political culture of governing by coalition must be developed in Moldova. But the state institutions must be purified and the case in the Domneasca Forest and the political crisis pointed to such a necessity.
Mariana Galben, IPN
