“We make a significant mistake when we say that the European Union supports or not the Republic of Moldova because all the European institutions support the European integration of Moldova. But the EU has a very objective and critical attitude of the government’s acts and the delay, of already two years, in providing the macro-financial assistance derives from here,” Viorel Cibotaru, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (PDDM), stated in the public debate “Chances of fulfilling the 28 conditions for obtaining €100 million from the EU or How real is the government’s objective to make the European course irreversible until the parliamentary elections?”, which was organized by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova.
The leader of the PLDM said the democratic deviations, corruption in the political class, inability to do reforms in accordance with the assumed commitments and institutional incoherence are among the often findings of international monitoring organizations. “If we speak about Moldova, this is not only the Democratic Party and the Government, but also the opposition parties and civil society. When there is no dialogue on an issue that could unite us, namely the European course, to which other parties also contributed, not only the Democratic Party and those groups of turncoats who say they are independent, the actions are not credible before the European Union that has an absolutely clear view of these things and the current government’s euphoria is only locally sourced,” stated the politician.
The Lib-Dem stated that the 28 conditions imposed by the EU for disbursing the €100 million are absolutely clear and he would like the current government to carry them out as they are evidently for the benefit of society. “The EU does not want the government to avoid fulfilling the commitments this time again and thus set a precedent as regards the provision of macro-financial assistance and included the 29th condition concerning the method of implementing the 28 conditions,” he stated.
According to Viorel Cibotaru, things should be considered in a context and when it is said that the government will obtain this macro-financial assistance, we should not pronounce ahead of time and should see how the conditions are fulfilled and are assessed because the EU’s assessment will be extremely drastic. “One thing is the rules defining the policy of Parliament and another things is the way in which the European Commission works as this cannot dawdle endlessly and punish the Republic of Moldova for the fact that the government does not fulfill its commitments,” stated the politician.
He said he expects that the assessment will be rather critical, but yet hopes that the first installment will be provided during the first two months of next year and this fact will be welcomed by the opposition, but with reserves, given the risk that the government could use this money in an electoral year for “electoral alms”. Such a conclusion derives from a first analysis of the draft national budget for next year, which is excessively aimed at promoting the purely electoral interests of the ruling party and less at implementing long-lasting strategic projects.
The politician noted that the next assessment reports of the EU will contain facts showing how the ruling party discourages the opposition parties and exerts pressure on their representatives. “There cannot be a dialogue when one holds the cudgel in the hand, while the other one is limited in doing political activities. These are very serious things and I don’t think the government should draw a euphoric image as those from Brussels do not believe in this and nobody believes that Moldova fulfills the commitments undertaken on its European path,” said the chairman of the PLDM.
In the same connection, Viorel Cibotaru said renouncing the mixed electoral system is a condition for disbursing the macro-financial assistance. This would restore hope that a political dialogue can exist in Moldova, at least between the proclaimed pro-European parties.
The public debate “Chances of fulfilling the 28 conditions for obtaining €100 million from the EU or How real is the government’s objective to make the European course irreversible until the parliamentary elections?” was the 85th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are organized with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
