The beginning of the protests in Chisinau promises a particular acceleration of tensions and frustrations of the population and this puts the government in a defensive situation. The demands of civil society and different professional groups to the government, related to the recovery of the money stolen through three banks, are justified, considers Igor Munteanu, Moldova’s Ambassador to the U.S. in 2010-2015. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, he said it is very important for the government to manage this turbulent and overwhelming situation with maximum prudence, IPN reports.
Igor Munteanu noted it is evident that the foreign players, particular states that want Moldova to move towards a particular internal or foreign policy goal or course, will renew their presence or the role they played. Looking diachronically at the actions of these states, such as Russia, it is obvious that the destabilization of the situation in Moldova is the perfect storm that they need. “The pro-Russian parties can also ask for a greater piece of the ‘pie’, a bigger contribution to forming the political power and to other stakes that we can only guess now, including those related to the presence of the Russian troops on Moldova’s territory, without the accord of the constitutional bodies, the political status of the Transnistrian region, the regime of trade with Russia,” he stated.
According to Igor Munteanu, these stakes are, for their part, influenced by the way in which the game between the protesters and the government will be played. “Regardless of what the participants in these protests say on the microphone or from the rostrum, the government of Moldova must show maximum flexibility, consistency and coherence so that these street protests do not follow radical scenarios. Nobody will benefit from this. Thus, these negotiations should result in satisfaction for the legitimate protesters,” he said.
He also said that it’s not mandatory to be on the part of the Platform “Dignity and Truth” to realize that the protests are natural and legitimate, determined by the people’s dissatisfaction with the way the institutions fulfill their duties. On the other hand, we would be blind not to see how the forces hostile to Moldova’s independence and to its integration into the EU mobilize, aiming to take revenge by replaying the electoral game. Those who now make a lot of pressure on the Central Election Commission and assert that the elections were insufficiently democratic actually manipulate the people.
