The argument of sovereignty and the problem of populism, in light of our new electoral system and the Moldovan authorities’ failure to adequately meet the Venice Commission recommendations, are discussed in a new article published by sic!, IPN reports.
The article comes with a motion graphic video (Romanian).
Narrator:
“Whenever a politician invokes the argument of sovereignty, this should probably make you wary.
But first, what is sovereignty?
Centuries ago, it used to be a privilege enjoyed by a single individual, the monarch, who was free to do almost whatever he wanted to his subjects. With the revolutions of late 18th century, however, sovereignty passes from the monarch to the people and becomes limited, as modern nations adopt the concepts of separation of powers and human rights.
The horrors of WWW2, however, demonstrated that the sovereignty of the majority cannot be above democratic standards and human rights. Moreover, modern international law does not protect the sovereignty of governments, but of the people. Whenever a government acts in a way that endangers democratic norms and human rights, that government violates the sovereignty of the people.
For instance, would the ECHR judgments against Moldova represent a violation of our sovereignty? No. Because Moldova vowed to respect the Court’s decisions in the interest of the Moldovan people. Governments come and go, but human rights must prevail forever.
So would the Venice Commission recommendations violate Moldova’s sovereignty in any way? The Venice Commission, like other similar international organizations, is there to prevent democratic backslides. As a member country of the Commission since 1992, Moldova has recognized its jurisdiction, including in electoral matters. If a recommendation by the Commission is not strictly ‘technical and legal’ (, as the Moldovan authorities wanted it to be), but criticizes the reform in its essence, this does not make it less valid.
So why do Moldova’s pro-European politicians (Andrian) Candu and (Vlad) Plahotniuc, but also the pro-Russian (Igor) Dodon use the same populist arguments as the leaders of Russia, Hungary or Poland? Find more on sic.md.”
The full article is available here (Romanian).
Sic! is a fact-checking, promise-tracking and explainer project implemented by IPN with the support of the Soros Foundation-Moldova and the Black Sea Trust.
