“Iurie Leanca said that namely the Europeans asked him to accept what he described as ‘very interesting offer’ on the part of Vlad Plahotniuc. Controversial statement, but is it true?”, the project sic! says in a new article, quoted by IPN. The authors of the article note that there has been an evidently good relationship between Leanca and the West, at least in the past; a good tacit relationship between Plahotniuc and the West; and a good relationship in practice between Plahotniuc and Leanca, despite timid attempts by the latter to distance himself declaratively from the first.
The authors remind that after a long period of passivity, Iurie Leanca reappeared on the Moldovan political arena to announce that the European People’s Party of Moldova (PPEM) will join the ruling alliance. His statement did nothing but confirm for many the accusations that the former Premier is controlled by Vlad Plahotniuc. Dissident voices appeared even inside the party. The PPEM’s candidate for the Chisinau City Hall Oazu Nantoi said he is firmly against this decision and accused Leanca of acting in collusion with Plahotniuc. Leanca’s explanation was simple and expected: “The European partners asked me and my colleagues to become more involved in this idea of the European course.”
The article says that the leader of the PPEM seemed to have enjoyed the real support of the West when he was minister of foreign affairs and then Prime Minister. As to Vlad Plahotniuc, even if this is continuously accused that he is the biggest oligarch in the country and is to blame for all the evil, there are many signs showing that the first deputy chairman of the Democratic Party (PDM) is at least tolerated in the West.
As regards the relationship between Plahotniuc and Leanca, the authors of the article say that it’s not possible to know for sure how close Iurie Leanca and Vlad Plahotniuc are, but in practice it is evident that they both have a good relationship with the West (the U.S., the EU and the IMF). Plahotniuc is rather tolerated and preferred as the lesser evil so as to prevent a pro-Russian government, while Leanca seemed to have enjoyed real popularity and support. Therefore, the announcements that the PPEM joins the ruling alliance and that Moldova will sign a new accord with the IMF could not be simple coincidences. The ex-Premier himself explained that he didn’t vote for the no-confidence motion against the Filip Government namely because of the planned agreement with the IMF.
The authors say that the last time that Leanca and Plahotniuc were members of the same government coalition, things seemed to be smooth and peaceful both for the first deputy chairman of the PDM and from the Western perspective. The re-formation of the old formula does not seem a bad idea, at least in the eyes of the West. On the one hand, you have the most influential man in the country. On the other hand, you have a man with whom you cooperated efficiently earlier and whom you trust. Within an agreement between the government coalition led by Plahotniuc and the development partners, the co-opting of Iurie Leanca as a guarantee of the pro-European course is a solution acceptable to both of the sides.
According to the authors, it’s not excluded that the West looks at the former Prime Minister as at a kind of inside man in the current coalition, while Plahotniuc sees exactly the opposite: Leanca as an insider in the Western diplomatic circles. “We thus see that all the analyzed signs point to the fact that the leader of the PPEM said probably the truth when he stated that the decision to cooperate with the current government was encouraged by the European partners,” note the authors.
The full article (in Romanian) can be read on the website of the project sic.md. Sic.md is a project of IPN News Agency implemented with the assistance of Soros Foundation Moldova.
