Press Release
on the organization of the debate “Situation in Parliament and the country – Where are we going?” „Developing Political Culture through Public Debates”. Public debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”

Held on 14 December 2020, Debate No.163 brought together: PAS MP Veronica Roșca, Socialist MP Nicolae Pascaru and Igor Boțan, IPN project’s standing expert.

The situation in Moldova’s Parliament is now extremely difficult and can have unwanted effects. The experts invited to IPN’s public debate “Situation in Parliament and the country – Where are we going?” discussed the level of difficulty and the danger posed by the current situation to the citizen, society and the Republic of Moldova in general.

Igor Boțan, the standing expert of IPN’s project, said the current political situation in the Republic of Moldova can be called a crisis situation, but is not an unordinary one. What is important is that this crisis is political only and is not accompanied by street confrontations, clashes, etc. “We all expect the powers to be transferred from the incumbent President Igor Dodon to President-elect Maia Sandu. The negotiations on the subsequent steps will most probably start afterward. We saw Mister President’s position. He said that full responsibility after December 24 will be borne by the new President. We saw the reactions of the MPs of the Party of Action and Solidary, who say: We should remember that the Republic of Moldova is a parliamentary republic and the responsibility for the current situation in the country is borne by the Government and Parliament. So, there is a kind of political Ping-Pong,” stated Igor Boțan.

According to the expert, the situation is rather difficult and it depends on the politicians, MPs, ministers and the new President how the Republic of Moldova overcomes it. “The situation is difficult as there is the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that didn’t disappear and should be managed further. Also, a series of fiscal, budgetary and other kinds of problems should be solved. There are also aspects related to those bills that were adopted in the first reading and also in the final reading, which generated tensions in society,” he stated.

MP of the Party of Action and Solidary Veronica Roșca said the question “Quo vadis?” has taken shape during the 30 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. “We can put this question and look for answers – where does the Republic of Moldova go and if the road covered until now favors the state institutions, this society and, respectively, what is the meaning of these events at the end of this difficult year 2020,” stated the MP.

According to her, the presidential institution has been reformed this year and a similar reform should be done in the legislative body next year. “In this connection, particular confrontations appear and they have been emphasized within the limits of the political confrontations, within the admissible levels and then these questions are justified somehow – why did these confrontations and debates appear namely now? Why was the Parliament sitting of December 3-4 followed by those street events of December 6?” stated Veronica Roșca.

Nicolae Pascaru, MP of the Party of Socialists, said that what has happened in the Republic of Moldova this year and these months is not something of a novelty. In the period, the Moldovan political class has been in the middle of a storm, with the country being situated between two geopolitical powers. It’s not the case to have illusions and to lead the country to a particular direction. The Republic of Moldova depends a lot on these two geopolitical points. “We should do good things for the people and adopt laws for our citizens. We must build a stable climate so that we could attract foreign investors and modernize the country, create particular conditions for the ordinary people, who should be proud that they live in this country,” stated the MP.

According to him, politicians’ actions of the recent past derive from the intention to divide society and to generate new ideas so as to secure support in the election campaign. Only two parties are now ready for snap parliamentary elections – the PSRM and the PAS. “But if we have these parliamentary elections, we cannot be sure that political swindlers will no longer enter Parliament and we will not face again this situation. As the parliamentary group of the Party of Socialists stated back in summer, the current Parliament is no longer valid owing to this switching among MPs, discrediting of the parliamentary idea, corruption in Parliament. Essential mistakes were made in the period,” stated Nicolae Pascaru.

The Agency published 4 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 14.12.20, „ Situation in Parliament and the country – Where are we going? IPN debate” - https://www.ipn.md/en/situation-in-parliament-and-the-country-where-are-we-going-8004_1078373.html; „Igor Boțan about interests of PAS and PSRM in current situation in Parliament and country” - https://www.ipn.md/en/igor-botan-about-interests-of-pas-and-psrm-in-current-8004_1078378.html; „Veronica Roșca: On December 3, Parliament made a shameful attempt to ignore law” - https://www.ipn.md/en/veronica-rosca-on-december-3-parliament-made-a-shameful-attempt-8004_1078380.html; „ Nicolae Pascaru: PSRM must hasten implementation of its electoral program so as to deliver results” - https://www.ipn.md/en/nicolae-pascaru-psrm-must-hasten-implementation-of-its-electoral-program-8004_1078386.html.

Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN