The celebration of Europe Day on May 9 this year is our third attempt actually initiated by young National-Liberals. Info-Prim Neo interview with Vitalia Pavlicenco, the president of the National Liberal Party (PNL)

[- PNL is the initiator and organizer of the Europe Day events. What were the reasons for your actions?] - As president of PNL, but especially as defender of the national values, we have a dream that we think could come true after the democratic forces won the elections in Chisinau in 2007. You understand that the victory of a Liberal mayor is the result of the voting and the product of the fight of the democrats against the Communist regime. That’s why, these forces should cooperate. Last year, before August 27, the Independence Day, and August 31, the Romanian Language Day, I phoned all the leaders of the pro-European parties, except the Communists and the left-wing parties of course, and proposed them to celebrate these holidays together, because they are defining for our dignity and national identity. No one said no, but we could not create a center or a nucleus and to delegate an organizer that would try to join the Democratic forces, in order to show the antinational forces that administer today that we are at home. We, not the present Communists, obtained the Independence of the Moldovan State in 1991, when the USSR collapsed. Then, they were hiding and now, they mock this Independence and the symbols of the state, the History of the Romanians and the Romanian Language. On March 27, PNL made common cause with the Initiative Committee “Country’s Council” in order to mark the 90th anniversary of the Bessarabia’s Union with Romania. The other parties did not take part. The idea of celebrating Europe Day on May 9 is our third attempt, which was in fact initiated by the National-Liberal youth. The celebrations will take place in the Square of the Opera House, starting at 13.00. We are very glad that the European Action social-political movement (MAE) joined us this time. We held a joint event with MAE on December 1, on Romania’s Day, in Soroca, organized by the Democratic Forum of the Romanians. We always participate in the activities organized by it because we are members of the Forum, alongside the “Moldova Noastra” Alliance and the Liberal-Democratic Party of Moldova. In a different context, the motivation for observing Europe Day is the following: after the Second World War, the present Moldova and Romania, which had been a single state from 1918 until 1940, remained for almost half a century under the Communist regime. After the revolution of 1989 in Romania, the country followed a Western development path. Now, Romania is a NATO and EU member and follows the model of the Liberal democracies. Moldova gained independence in 1991, when the Soviet empire fell apart. From then until present, our society has had supporters of two models of development – the Western model and the Euro-Asian model. Owing to the geo-strategic importance of the territory of the second Romanian state, the unfavorable political influences from outside have been always strong in Moldova and made the country still ineligible for NATO and the EU. While Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – countries that had been victims of the Hitler-Stalin German-Russian pact as Bessarabia, are members of NATO and the EU, the society in Moldova is still divided into people that long for the past and think that the history can be stopped and the totalitarian Soviet regime reinstated, and people that want the state to follow the model of European democracy and Euro-Atlantic security, of membership to the EU and NATO. Alongside the Baltic States, Romania and other Central and South Eastern European states that chose the Western model, the Republic of Moldova could become – through the people’s will in favor of politicians with political will – a prosperous and stabile state that helped, first of all by Romanian, would sooner become an EU member state. But the democratic forces cannot convey a pro-European message to the population because we do not have a space for public debates. The Opposition does not have access to radio and television, which are not public and where the citizens see only the Communists. The disastrous outcomes of the polls are the result of such a state of affairs. That’s why, we must stage public rallies, in squares, in order to fill in somehow the information gap for the citizens. [- How should this day be celebrated?] - The National Liberal Party, through its representatives, constantly pleaded for European orientation and for the Western model for developing the second Romanian state - the Republic of Moldova. In 2002, the National-Liberals appealed to the pro-European parties to form a National Commission that would work out the Strategy and Conception or preparing Moldova for accession to the EU. In 2006, the National-Liberals proposed withdrawing from the Commonwealth of Independent States in the Parliament. These initiatives served as a continuation of the promotion of the Parliament’s Decision of 11 September 1998, which envisioned the reorientation of the Moldovan exports to the Western market and the proclamation of the European orientation as Moldova’s major strategic objective. The Communist Government did not continue the European orientation by reforms. In 2005, Moldova signed the EU-Moldova Plan of Action. Experts consider that its implementation was unsuccessful. PNL has always challenged the capacity and willingness of the present governors to implement reforms that could make Moldova eligible for EU membership. PNL considers that only a victory of the democratic forces in the 2009 elections will serve as a guarantee that Moldova will start implementing real reforms, despite difficulties, and will manage to come closer to NATO and the UE. The accession to NATO is primordial and undisputable. Moldova must form part of the Euro-Atlantic security system whereby our state could gain power to cope with the challenges coming first of all from the East, get rid of the foreign troops and insure security and prosperity. The goal pursued by PNL is to implement reforms that can reduce the migration of people and establish close partnerships with Romania at local, regional and central level in order to accelerate Moldova’s accession to NATO and the EU. That’s why, we hope that many people will come on May 9 to this event with European message so that we could together plead for democracy and freedom. At such meetings, the people usually speak about the European values. We will express our wish to form part of the system of Euro-Atlantic values. Experienced people, especially young people, will tell everyone that the European Union means a lot of work aimed at creating democratic living conditions in a country where the people benefit from the fundamental rights and freedoms, regardless of nationality and religion. It means the right to free movement, studies, social protection and decent living after retirement. It means a state with a functional legal system, where the people and property, the initiative and the private sector are respected. It means support for the small and medium-sized producers and prosperity. These values are promoted by the states with Liberal democracies. The freedom is the supreme value – the freer the society, the more prosperous the country. Democracy means the government of the country by the people, on condition that every member of the society is free and the freedom of expression, the access to information, the political pluralisms and the pluralism of opinion is insured. [- Do you think that these activities will produce the projected result? Is it enough to promote the necessity of Europeanizing the society?] - Of course, this is not enough. But we know under what conditions the pro-European Opposition works. We use all the ways possible. PNL is actively participating in the public debates organized by the Journalists Union. The next time, the debates will be held in Ungheni town and we will go there too. We will also take part in other public events, in parallel with the activities carried out by PNL. Only in such a way, we will achieve out desideratum to become a member of the European family. We all have the civic obligation and social-human responsibility to help the uninformed ones so that they are not afraid of the European future, to show the young people the future because they are capable, but pay tribute for the past that still lies heavily on many of our citizens. We must be decided and united and show our friends from Europe and the United States that we deserve a civilized life, that we can build it at home, that we want to keep pace with the civilized world, that we have dignity and, therefore, a European future!