In the last five years, the EU's relationship with Moldova has been distinguished by its extremely sharp nature and disciplined use of the conditionality mechanism. Neither in Ukraine nor in Georgia, the European partners did not display the importance of political pre-conditions with the intensity and consistency observed in the Moldovan case, writes Dionis Cenușa in an analysis article for the IPN Agency.
Both the European Parliament, through the active participation of the Romanian MEPs, and the EU Delegation in Chisinau regularly point out the commitments not fulfilled by the Moldovan authorities, the political researcher points out.
He recalls that since 2017, when the agreement on macro-financial assistance was signed and until 2020, three governments have alternated.
Only the sectoral conditions related to the second tranche (out of a total of three) were fully met. The inflexibility of the political pre-conditions demanded by the EU, combined with the geopolitical preferences for Russia, provokes irritations and infuses with Euroscepticism the rhetoric of the rulers from Chisinau, argues Dionis Cenușa.
He believes that although Moldova is facing a severe political crisis, against a fragile economic and public health background, the EU shows no determination to use its political authority to ease the situation.
Brussels chooses to be predominantly vocal on political pre-conditions, which it does not do in Ukraine or Georgia, says the political scientist.
In reality, he suggests that they can use the recent experience in Georgia to create a platform for negotiations between the government and the opposition to prepare a stable ground for the November 2020 presidential election.
In his view, the pro-Russian geopolitical core of the ruling coalition discourages a more proactive role from the EU’s side.
Waiting for the outcome of the political climax is not a safe strategy, given the change in the political composition through methods of corruption, the political researcher underlines.
So far, the EU had not shown the slightest desire to participate in the country's political stabilization, as it did in the summer of 2019 when together with the US and Russia, it contributed to the elimination of the oligarchic regime, he added.
Conditionality is not a strategy, but a useful tool, if coupled with other actions. The EU has the capacity to act based on independent political calculations. They must reflect the agendas of his political allies in Moldova, but in any case, avoid bias approaches, concludes Dionis Cenușa.
