“It is civil society that must bring about changes”. Info-Prim Neo interview with Sorin Mereacre, chairman of National Participation Council, president of East Europe Foundation

[(You have recently returned from the meeting of representatives of civil society of the countries covered by the Eastern Partnership that was held in Berlin. Have you got some results that could influence the situation in Moldova?)] - I will probably repeat a thing that I mentioned many times, but I think the situation in Moldova can and should be influenced first of all from inside. This conclusion was reached at the forum in Berlin. I stated at the forum that civil society in Moldova, compared with most of the countries of the Eastern Partnership, this year had a number of opportunities of promoting ideas and policies in different areas. The Government of Moldova, especially Prime Minister Vlad Filat, offered the NGOs possibilities of taking part in governance. There are a number of drawbacks, but we had only one year to strengthen this relation and I hope that after the elections these opportunities will be used and there will appear other new opportunities. The situation of the NGOs from some of the countries of the Eastern Partnership, like Belarus and Azerbaijan, is very difficult as they are marginalized or even persecuted for their ideas and activities. However, the situation in Moldova is influenced from outside as well. I mean especially the European Union. Until the authorities and the political elite have partnership relations with the representatives of the European Commission and its member countries, Moldova must take into account their recommendations. In this connection, European Commissioner Stefan Fule said in the forum that he would like civil society to widely engage in the processes that take place within the Eastern Partnership for a number of reasons. This is necessary because the engagement of the NGO sector is a sine qua non condition for our common success. This conviction derives not from political correctness, but from the belief that civil society is a fundamental and indispensable part of the democratic process. The European Commissioner assured he will call on the representatives of the partner countries and the EU member states to closely cooperate with the civil society forum in implementing the program of the Eastern Partnership. In the same connection, the Federal Foreign Minister of Germany Guido Westerwelle said the Eastern Partnership needs bold players that would plead the human rights. It is civil society that must bring about changes. The charity foundations, the church, the groups that plead for a cleaner environment, the human rights organizations are the promoters of these changes. Guido Westerwelle stressed that civil society must remind the politicians of the promises they made, refuse to tolerate corruption and demand services of a high quality and responsibility from the authorities and the judiciary. As to the influence of civil society on the aligning to the values shared by the EU member states, I think we have several more important stages to cover. To my mind, the most important one is to establish and strengthen trust-based relations between the Moldovan people and NGOs. Only by having a large number of supporters who will actively engage in the promotion of the values we aspire to, will we be able to influence the policies at national and local level for the people’s benefit. For this to happen, we must listen to them and speak the same language with the people whom we want to represent. Valeriu Vasilica, Info-Prim Neo