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Moldova’s European integration is affected by government’s artificiality towards EU, opinion


https://www.ipn.md/en/moldovas-european-integration-is-affected-by-governments-artificiality-7978_1043827.html

After 27 years of independence, the Moldovan governments’ artificial approach to the European integration process led to the stealing of US$ 1 billion from the banking system and the indebtedness of the population with 13.34  billion lei over the next 25 years, political pundit Dionis Cenușa says in an analysis article for IPN Agency.

He noted that currently, the same type of attitude characterizes the fulfillment by the Moldovan government managed by the PDM of the technical conditions and political preconditions for obtaining €100 million in macro-financial assistance.

The devotion to artificiality in relation to the EU can be also deduced from the insistence of the government (PDM leader Vladimir Plahotniuc) on the fact that all the criteria for disbursing the first tranche of the macro-financial assistance (ten of the total 28) were met, inclining several of the conditions intended for the second tranche.

According to Dionis Cenușa, the EU-Moldova relationship went through a broad maturing process that was yet unilateral, as the unfavorable experiences related to the freezing of the EU budget support in 2015 and the postponement of the EU macro-financial assistance in July 2018 show.

More exactly, the principledness of Brussels increased considerably and is based on output and constant verification of progress. Simultaneously, the government of Moldova has been focused a lot on the technical fulfilment of conditions even if this implies an enormous dose of artificiality.

The emphasis on artificiality creates the perception of acceleration of reforms, but by decreasing their quality and, respectively, their durability. So far, the most artificial changes took place in justice, while the most profound ones were witnesses in the technical sectors where the interests of the political forces are minor.

The politologist stated the future political scenarios are full of disadvantages for the European integration of Moldova. On the one hand, the ruling Democratic Party, being motivated to keep power, prefers the EU to treat the reforms in a simplistic form.

On the other hand, the Party of Socialists, which is supported by President Igor Dodon and is the most popular one with voters, aims to seize power after the elections of February 2019 and already signaled its apathy in some of the reforms (for example, the anti-discrimination policies).

According to the expert, the other important parties treat the reforms as a remedy against the oligarchic interests and corruption. In this regard, the struggle against corruption, de-politicization of institutions or improvement of the electoral legislation were turned into demands of the antigovernment protests coordinated by the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” and the Party “Action and Solidarity”.

Consequently, the prospects of the European integration will be unfavorable for Moldova if the government is concentrated in the hands of the Democrats, the Socialists or in a duo of them.