Eurosceptic rhetoric is used in the political struggles between the governing elites and the opposition in Moldova, writes political researcher Dionis Cenușa in an analytical article for the IPN Agency.
The political scientist describes several motivations that stimulate Euroscepticism in Eastern Partnership countries. He believes that in Moldova criticism of the EU is actively used to wage internal political struggles.
According to Dionis Cenușa, in countries with hybrid regimes, such as Moldova, pro-Russian forces have accused the EU of supporting pro-European governments in the period 2012-2014.
Then governments facilitated the bank frauds, while negotiating the visa-free regime and the Association Agreement with the EU, the political scientist underlines.
Except from Moldova, the EU is not criticized in any other Eastern Partnership country for cooperating with influential governments of oligarchic groups, such as Ukraine or Georgia, says Dionis Cenușa.
He launches the idea that the possibility of bringing the Eastern Partnership to the category of liberal democracies depends on the application of conditionality and the continuous fight against Euroscepticism.
Due to strong geopolitical cleavages, which practically divide society in two, the Association Agreement with the EU signed by Moldova in 2014 was converted into an object of stimulating Euroscepticism during the 2014 parliamentary and the 2016 presidential elections, the political scientist concludes.
