IPN analysis: The atmosphere and documents of the last congress of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) pointed to the achievement of the highest levels of pro-European determination. It is the most powerful expression of the pro-European option ever witnessed in Moldova, including by the PLDM itself. If we take into account the fact that the PLDM is the component with the greatest weight in the current government coalition, this is a signal that should be taken into account when considering the topicality and political and geopolitical prospects of Moldova, if the signal was sincere and with potential to last.
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Most probably, the univocal pro-European signal launched by the congress of the PLDM had several targets: 1) internal, party one; 2) a large part of Moldovan society; 3) the international community with both of its manifestations – the East and the West.
Autosuggestion and ‘religious conversion’
At internal level, the powerfully mobilizing discourses and documents were aimed at raising the level of the pro-European convictions and tasks set before the members of the party and, by them, before the supporters of the European option that they will manage to convert to the relatively new ‘European faith’ in a relatively short period of time – by the parliamentary elections of November 2014. This is because the efforts in this field will produce results only if the European option enters Parliament by at least 50 plus 1 seat gained by several parties of such an orientation. The PLDM’s effort in this respect is commensurable with the ambition to remain in the role of driving force of the current and future government cotillion.
It is a very difficult task if taking into account the older and newer challenges that the promoters of the European idea from the PLDM must take into consideration. One of them is the inertia of the Moldovan mentality in general, which often prefers the uncertain role of the lamb that wants to feed himself from two unsafe sources rather than to obtain a guaranteed source by physical and intellectual effort. That’s why the speeches given at the congress, which would be excessively euphoric in other situations, played the role of establishing this pro-European determination or even of eliminating any possibility of withdrawal, at least for the members and leaders of the party.
Another challenge that the PLDM should assume proportionally to the mentioned ambition and weight is the poor image of the current government in the society’s eyes, at least compared with the image at the start of the mandate in 2009 and with the expectations of society of the then government. However, the main reason is connected not with the accomplishments or non-accomplishments of the pro-European government, though this is also important, but rather with the irrational settling of accounts in public, which dominated the relations between the components until recently. If it wasn’t deceitful, the impression that the congress left is that the PLDM realizes what it should do and with whom for this European cause to be successful in Moldova. A proof is the repeated high appraisals of the coalition partners, even from the rostrum of the congress. Such thing wouldn’t have happened until recently.
The cohesion of the poor-European coalition is one of the few real guarantees both for the country’s European course and for the political fate of its components, including the PLDM. Another guarantee, also one of the few, is the real results that every citizen and every settlement of Moldova are to feel on this path to the country’s Europeanization and modernization. At theoretical level, these tasks are rather convincingly formulated in the PLDM’s manifesto adopted by the congress: education of a high quality, workplaces, rule of law, corruption-free European state Moldova. But it’s a long and difficult way to go from formulation to accomplishment. However, this is the only one way by which the political performance of a party is certified.
Signal to outside
The European determination of the PLDM is a signal for the international community. The current political and geopolitical conjuncture makes us think that the great capitals of the world receive messages from the small Moldova too.
Things are more or less clear in the relations with the West. By its univocal position, the congress of the PLDM reinforced the old bridges and built new bridges from Moldova to the West. They move freely on these bridges to and back because the traffic rules, as the stakes of the sides, are clear. The Vilnius Summit held not long before the congress, showed this clearly. The PLDM, by its leaders, is the main national player in this good relationship of Moldova with the EU as well as with the U.S. and other Western states and organizations. Moreover, the European politicians showed that they fully support not only Moldova, but also the stakes of the Moldovan politicians in achieving great goals, especially those from the PLDM, namely owing to their clear resolve.
It is surely a coincidence that the leader of the PLDM Vlad Filat visited Kiev several hours before the congress, when the temperature of the preparations reached the highest levels. But the fact that he was there and gave a speech on the “Euromaidan”, showing support for the European aspirations of the Ukrainians present there, is no longer a coincidence. It is a consequence of the close relations of partnership with the European organizations and politicians. Ex-President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, who was also present on the “Euromaidan” and at the PLDM’s congress, said that only good and great politicians, not bad and small ones, are able to make such determined gestures. “After the events of April 2009, we, the parties that are ruling now, needed messages of solidarity from outside. But not many came,” said later Vlad Filat. In Kiev, the leader of the PLDM represented not only himself and the party, but also the country even if he doesn’t hold official state posts. He also represented certain European circles and interests. This is the novelty and significance of the moment.
It is true that this gesture and the determinant pro-Western signal of the congress may be used as a pretext for the East to ask for important prices. Even if, alongside the phrase “The PLDM considers that Moldova does not have an alternative to the European future,” the manifesto adopted in the congress says “The PLDM considers the maintaining of strategic relations with Russia a priority.” Are the PLDM and its leader ready to cope with such requirements and to prepare the people and the country for them? Will they be able to secure the support of society and the coalition partners? Time will answer these and other questions, including as regards the quality of the European determination of the Moldovan political class, as an alternative to the oscillating and undecided behavior after the proclamation of independence.
Valeriu Vasilică, IPN
