“This anniversary is quite similar to the image of year 2007, affected by drought…” – interview by Info-Prim Neo with the newly elected mayor of Floreni village Valeriu Munteanu

[- Is the 16th Anniversary of independence somehow distinct from other anniversaries?] This year doesn’t look to me special at all. On the contrary, I think a veil of forgetfulness is trying to cover this day. Now it is the moment to teach our children to love and prize the national values. To love the Independence Day, they need first to love the country. But how could they possibly love a country that doesn’t offer them anything, that forced their parents to seek jobs abroad, that destroyed their families, that doesn’t provide them with books, with teachers, that is paying insufficient pensions to their grandfathers!? This anniversary is quite similar to the image of year 2007, affected by drought, with no harvest, with people in despair, who put their hope in God alone. [- How do you think, what are Moldova’s biggest achievements and failures during these 16 years of its independence?] One of the greatest achievements is that we have actually become free – free to think and say sometimes (when we are not afraid of being punished for that) what we think. Another achievement is that we have private property after almost 50 years. One of the biggest failures of these 16 years of independence is that we couldn’t manage to really become independent. We further depend on the geopolitical interests of other states, who are interested in the Danube’s mouths and Black Sea. We couldn’t settle in any way the Transnistrian conflict. No scenario of a United Moldova is shaping after 16 years of independence. On the contrary, I think the problem is much bigger now, as besides the geopolitical interests in this zone, the economic interests become more evident. For all that, I am happy that in this conflict, at least for now, the relations of the inhabitants on both banks of the Nistru are not tense. People are tolerant with each other, and the conflict remains chiefly a political one. The crisis of national identity which Moldova’s population found itself in, favoured all the governments. Sometimes I believe that even the leaders haven’t yet decided on their nationality, how they should behave themselves, what to do and where to lead the people: to the West or to the East. We haven’t managed to get closer at all to Europe. We state that we wish to join the EU, but we don’t do anything for that. We haven’t even submitted an accession agreement. The deep economic crisis could be mentioned in the failures chapter, as well. Moldova is labelled the poorest country in Europe, with hundreds of thousands of its citizens working abroad, with boarding schools full with children, whose parents are alive, with the family institution destroyed, with schools without teachers and children… We haven’t managed to really separate the powers in the country. We haven’t managed to set up an independent justice. And the media is further subdued to a large extent. [- Why do you reckon that Moldova is qualified as the poorest state in Europe, with a recent survey by the U.S. magazine “Foreign Policy” showing Moldova on its Independence Anniversary’s eve as the least stable country in Europe? When and how it will be able to get rid of these names?] This happens because many of our leaders do not believe in the country, the Republic of Moldova. They don’t trust the people. They don’t have well established strategic goals. Many of them follow the principle “Apres nous, le deluge”. This happens as we were short of competent ministers, and because we elect our leaders according to political criteria. As for the instability, that’s because we are not able to make laws that wouldn’t need to be amended every year. Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to show our foreign partners that investing in Moldova is real. [- Do you think that the European integration as a strategic goal of independent Moldova is irreversible?] I wish to think so, but the actions undertaken by the leadership show no unconditioned wish in this respect. We are not moving forward. Only declarations have been made for several years, but substance is needed, as well. [- Do you think that, a year after changing the name of the national holiday from “Independence Day” into “Republic’s Day”, the change is justified?] I don’t qualify as well-timed the change of the name. People need to know that, namely on this date, the Declaration on Independence of the country was adopted by the first Parliament. People need to know that, namely on this date, we assumed some responsibilities which we are quite badly fulfilling. [- To what extent the Moldovan people deserved their leaderships during the independence time, or do you think that the latter didn’t get on well with their own people?] I cannot blame my people for their electoral option all these years. Our people paid tribute to the Soviet times. They were raised and received an education according to a certain scale of values, had some ideals, but at the same time, they were consequently betrayed by those coming to power. In my opinion, the governments we had were quite weak, as we well know, and that isn’t because the leaders didn’t want to achieve something good, but because they didn’t know how to do it. They all came from a socialist economy and found it very hard to think overnight in a different way, and to lead in a different way. The people deserve now “more” than they got and I think they have already started to get themselves this “more”.