Press Release
on the organization of the debate ”New Government’s capacity to select priorities and to cope with them”. Debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”
Held on 20 February 2023, Debate No. 274 brought together: The chairman of the European Social Democratic Party (PSDE) Ion Sula, ex-minister of agriculture and food industry,
The acting chairman of the National Unity Party (PUN) Anatol Șalaru, ex-minister of defense and Igor Boțan, IPN project’s standing expert.
Igor Boțan, the permanent expert of the project, said that in accordance with the Constitution, the Government ensures the implementation of the foreign and domestic policy of the state and exercises general management of public affairs. In the process, it abides by its government program that is accepted by Parliament. The same constitutional provisions stipulate that a candidate for premiership is designated after the President consults the parliamentary groups and the Premier-designate within 15 days of the designation asks for a vote of confidence for the government program and the Cabinet members from Parliament. The program and the list of Cabinet members are debated in a Parliament sitting and the new Cabinet is voted in by a majority of votes.
“These clauses of the Constitution derive from the “social contract” theory that was designed in the 17th-18th centuries. This clearly says that the social contract implies that the people give up their rights and sovereignty and offer power to the state, the Government. This is very important. If we speak about what is going on now in the Republic of Moldova, the Government’s program should be regarded as a social contract. In fact, the first social contract is signed by the citizens when they vote. A parliamentary majority comes and, based on voters’ expectations, draws up a government program that is accepted by Parliament. The Government has this document, this social contract,” stated Igor Boțan.
Respectively, the Cabinet, during four years, manages public affairs based on that document that is the emanation of the citizens’ vote. The mandate can be interrupted if the population is dissatisfied with the Cabinet’s work. “The problem of legitimacy appears. If the citizens no longer support the Government during the given mandate, this Government loses legitimacy. The political theory says the citizens can protest when they are dissatisfied with the way in which the Government fulfills the duties deriving from the so-called social contract,” explained Igor Boțan.
The chairman of the European Social Democratic Party (PSDE) Ion Sula, ex-minister of agriculture and food industry, said the new Premier Dorin Recean saw that the previous executive was unable to ensure the functionality of the state institutions. “Not accidentally, order and discipline are among his priorities, as are the revitalization of the economy and ensuring of security in the country. Here, we must ascertain that things in the Republic of Moldova during 16 months have ben practically stagnant, including in the economy. We saw how all the crises in the country were managed in general,” he stated.
According to Ion Sula, there are indeed the regional context, the war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis. But the way in which the crises are managed is one of the biggest problems. Handling such crises by exhibiting its skills is the duty of the Government. “It goes to the human factor that is an important element. But in the recent period, we haven’t seen professionals being coopted. To be able to manage crises, one needs human capacities. On the contrary, we saw people being removed from the state institutions, ministries and agencies, as these were of a different political color,” stated the ex-minister.
The leader of the PSDE said that his party asked for meetings with the country’s administration and expressed their readiness to share their party members’ experience so as to offer an alternative in coping with the current challenges.
The acting chairman of the National Unity Party (PUN) Anatol Șalaru, ex-minister of defense, noted that the priorities announced by the new Cabinet correspond to the current requirements. “We see that the state institutions are in a state of disorder, to say the least, as the PAS followed the bad examples of the previous ruling alliances. They named obedient persons to key posts and in state institutions, according to affiliation to the party. They introduced the filter and proceeded. I hope Mister Dorin Recean will change the situation,” stated the PUN leader.
According to him, corruption is indeed widespread in state institutions and a cleanup was needed, but holding contests to which no one would come is too much. Many people left, while those who remained do not want to work in state institutions. “Peace and security in the country - everyone wants peace now. It was proven that the Republic of Moldova’s “secret cow” called neutrality cannot protect us and, on the contrary, can cause only harm to us. Security should be therefore ensured. In what way? It was stated that we want to form part of the European security architecture, but we need a lot of money for the purpose. Does the Republic of Moldova have money or we will further wait for the European Union, the foreign partners to make presents to us, as we awaited in all the fields, not only in the military and security sectors?” asked Anatol Șalaru.
As regards the revitalization of the economy, the ex-minister said that this objective is very important, but almost unachievable when the security of the state is not ensured. The economy is revitalized by creating conditions for investors. The Republic of Moldova at the moment is not attractive to foreign investors that would come to create new jobs, to bring revenues into the budget. “We hope this will be possible. Many of the things said by the Government are nice and appropriate, but the previous governments also designed nice and attractive programs that remained yet unimplemented, for a number of reasons. First of all, we do not have with what. Secondly, we do not have with whom and, thirdly, our country cannot ensure the safety of investments,” said Anatol Șalaru.
The public debate entitled “New Government’s capacity to select priorities and to cope with them” was the 274th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
The Agency published 4 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 20.02.23, „ New Government’s capacity to select priorities and to cope with them. IPN debate”; https://www.ipn.md/en/new-governments-capacity-to-select-priorities-and-to-cope-8004_1095333.html; “Igor Boțan: Prosperity and economic development are not possible without security”; https://www.ipn.md/en/igor-botan-prosperity-and-economic-development-are-not-possible-without-8004_1095335.html; „ Anatol Șalaru: There is no alternative to government. Only Russia in Moldova is the alternative”;- https://www.ipn.md/en/anatol-salaru-there-is-no-alternative-to-government-only-russia-8004_1095338.html; „ Ion Sula: European integration should be zero priority”; https://www.ipn.md/en/ion-sula-european-integration-should-be-zero-priority-8004_1095341.html.
Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN