Having control over the General Prosecutor would give Igor Dodon personal comfort and would neutralize any surprises that an independent General Prosecutor could throw at him, thus ensuring a smooth reelection campaign for president. The danger of an independent General Prosecutor triggered the political situation regarding the dismissal of the Sandu government and the appointment of the Chicu government. This opinion was voiced by economic expert and former Finance Minister, Veaceslav Negruța, at the public debates "Technocratic minority government as a solution: advantages and risks", organized by IPN and Radio Moldova.
"Over the course of the last few days, we have seen how President Dodon placed his electoral staff in government positions and how the entire agenda of the new executive was shaped to strictly focus on the realization of the president's major objective - to win the next term. The previous "unnatural" alliance was substituted by a natural alliance. In fact, the current government has the support of a majority consisting of PSRM and PDM, thus it is not a minority government. The political coverage and support of the current government is mostly affected by the president's skill to negotiate and to communicate with the two components of the new parliamentary majority - the Socialists and the Democrats", said Veaceslav Negruța.
Additionally, the expert pointed out that certain persons have returned to government, namely persons who were active between 2012 and 2013 as administrators at the Banca de Economii or in public positions and were previously appointed by special interest groups that were named in the Kroll II report. According to him, these appointments speak of the uniting interest that made this already natural alliance to name its own government led by Ion Chicu.
"We have already seen the advantage of this government. Yesterday, the current government took over the previous government's social package. This represents an advantage because a great deal of work has been done in order to identify the resources and the financial coverage of future increases in salaries and pensions. Let us not forget that these are actions that will produce effects in 2020. The current government faces certain risks. The former government, which was supported by the so-called "unnatural" alliance, formed by PSRM and the ACUM bloc, has put forward draft laws that are waiting to be voted on in final reading. Some of these bills are part of the deoligarchization package, namely the law on de-offshorization and the law on the cancellation of the law on citizenship through investments. There are some other laws, which are also very important for justice reform. From this point of view, I expect a logical continuation or final adoption of these laws in Parliament. If the members of Parliament do not vote these laws in the second reading, it will be very clear that the interests of certain groups, not necessarily political groups, have been affected. However, it is already known that political groups have merged with financial groups and interests. If the Parliament does not vote into law the bills, this indication will clearly show what is happening", said the former minister.
According to him, a temporary government, which declaratively does not have political support, cannot venture to initiate reforms because, apparently, it should not have political support in Parliament. "However, if certain elements of reforms are promoted in Parliament, reforms that deviate from the previous direction or head in a completely different direction, but are supported by the new majority in the legislature, we will have a second clue that, in fact, the government is used in order to promote certain economic and financial interests", the expert said.
The Sandu government, according to Veaceslav Negruța, pointed out the sensitive areas where financial schemes were applied, in particular in state-owned enterprises and in joint-stock companies with a majority state capital "which were used as dairy cows over the years, by directing financial flows to support parties that have protected these schemes. Thus, the sensitivity is high and if the process initiated by the former government has no logical purpose, the investigations that were previously initiated will be an imitation and won't hold anyone accountable, while the schemes will be reactivated and we will see a return to the situation prior to June 2019", Veaceslav Negruța said.
The "Technocratic minority government as a solution: advantages and risks" debates are the 121st edition of the cycle "Development of political culture in public debates", supported by the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
