In the program “Direct access” broadcast by NTV Moldova channel on November 15, 2018, the president of the Party of Socialists (PSRM) Zinaida Grecheanyi announced that the party on November 18 will stage a national protest where the basis for the PSRM’s future electoral platform and the commitments for the next four years will be laid. The electoral platform  and the commitments will be later approved by the party’s National Council.

We must note that the combination of the protest with the formulation of a positive agenda that will be an alternative to the current government’s agenda is a difficult task for the PSRM. It is very good that the PSRM intends to consult the own supporters, but it would be right to inform the supporters how the party’s views about the realities and perspectives of the Republic of Moldova have changed. On the one hand, the PSRM’s platform and commitments for the elections of February 24, 2019 should be in strict compliance with the party’s political program. The given program was adopted at the party’s 12th extraordinary congress held before the parliamentary elections of November 30, 2014. On the other hand, it is interesting to known how the PSRM intends to combine the provisions of the program adopted before the elections of November 30, 2014 with the objectives set for the elections of February 24, 2019. At the elections of November 30, 2014, the PSRM, based on its political program, set the goal of annulling the Association Agreement with the EU and joining the Customs Union. In the elections of February 24, 2019, based on the same political program, the president of the PSRM aims to win the elections in order to “form a Government that would  know to have good relations with all the states, including the EU with which a Free Trade Agreement was signed... That’s why the good relations with the Russian Federation and the European Union and with all the other states mean a lot and would ensure this success”.

The given assertions allow us to deduce that the PSRM intends to give up scrapping the Moldova - EU Association Agreement and, respectively, joining the Customs Union. It is absolutely impossible for the Republic of Moldova to have a free trade regime with the European Union and to simultaneously join the Customs Union of the Eurasian Union. The objectives defined in the PSRM’s program are strategic and the revision of the strategic goals should be approved by the body that adopted them – the congress. Surely, the PSRM can explain to its supporters that the Republic of Moldova obtained the status of observer at the Eurasian Union, but the PSRM’s political program expressly provides that the Association Agreement should be scrapped and that Moldova should join the Eurasian Union and says nothing about such palliative solutions as the status of observer.

In the given circumstances, it is important to convoke the congress of the PSRM after the meeting of its National Council so as to adjust the political program to the electorate program and commitments. Also, the party’s congress should take a decision as to the good relations with the Russian Federation. If Socialist MPs take part in the parliamentary investigation into the hybrid war waged by Russia against the Republic of Moldova, it is evident that they recognize it. So, the party should clarify when and in what circumstances this war started and what can be done to end it. It is evident that it is impossible to have good relations with a country with which one is at war, even if this is a hybrid war. When the hybrid war is finished, they could return to the absolutely necessary policies for improving the relations with Russia. These things should also be debated in an eventual pre-electoral congress, eventually in the protest scheduled for November 18. If so, it would be very clear that the protest is aimed against the hybrid war and the positive agenda concerning the electoral program and commitments is designed to ensure the well-being of the Motherland. Or the PSRM risks being neither on road, nor on trail in the electoral campaign prior to the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019.

IPN Experts