A rather narrow segment of Moldovan society embraces unconditionally all the European values, expert in political sciences Dionis Cenusa says in an article for IPN.
The author notes that peace, democracy, human rights, human dignity and the rule of law are the main European values.
According to Cenusa, most of the Moldovan citizens divide these up, selecting only the acceptable European values. Consequently, these prefer to distance themselves from the human rights because they didn’t exactly assimilate the principle of equality and the necessity of social integration of discriminated groups such as sexual minorities or persons with disabilities.
The politologist believes the Russian Orthodox Church and pro-Russian politicians are the most active supporters of the traditional values in Moldova. There is stiff competition between the European values and the traditional ones.
On the one hand, these supporters are against the human rights when it is about sexual minorities. On the other hand, these act against emancipated women, as in the case of Maia Sandu in presidential elections of 2016.
Dionis Cenusa considers the perpetual disappointment in the pro-European political parties (2009-2017) and the high poverty level at which many Moldovans live make the European integration and, respectively, the European values, to be associated with something elitist or imaginary, for now inaccessible.
The European values in Moldova depend on the public support for the European course, which can be reanimated through the agency of authentic civil society, credible pro-European political alternatives and intelligent external conditionality imposed on the government.
