The Republic of Moldova set off from the same point as the Baltic States. At the end of the 1880s and the start of the 1990s, the country was in the vanguard of the process of abolishing the totalitarian regime. However, unlike the Moldovans, the Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians had always had the national and civic conscience well consolidated. They knew how to combine efforts and to follow the goal they set – to integrate into the EU and the North-Atlantic bodies, the director of the Romanian Cultural Institute “Mihai Eminescu” in Chisinau, historian Valeriu Matei said in an interview for IPN of the series “Thoughts about and for Moldova”, which was produced on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of independence.
Referring to the Baltic states, Valeriu Matei said these went through economic blockades imposed by the Soviet Union and then by Russia, which is the de jure successor of the USSR. They also had special cards for food products, armed provocations with dozens of victims and more dramatic situations than in the Republic of Moldova, but didn’t deviate from the path of European integration. Here, as a result of the aggression war against the Republic of Moldova, started by the military forces of the former Soviet empire taken over by Russia at the beginning of March, 1992, and the subsequent economic blockade, we witnessed the political recoil of the spring of 1994, when forces hostile to the national desiderata and independence from the former Soviet empire came to power.
“Denatured reforms followed. I already spoke about the reform in agriculture, the simulation of the justice sector reform, the adoption of a Constitution with eclectic and unclear content, by including Stalinist untruths about the identity, which threw society into the turmoil of long-term conflicts and contradictions, the delay in implementing the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU and its member states,” said the historian.
According to Valeriu Matei, political will is first of all needed to promote the European dominant. A new Constitution should be better drafted, in accordance with the European integration desiderata, which would respect the historical and linguistic truth, would set clear criteria for separating the powers in the state and clear methods of interaction, and would ensure an efficient administration system could solve many of the problems faced now by the Republic of Moldova. Among the priorities is to develop a really free press that will be independent from economic viewpoint and will not depend on all kinds of magnates and persons interested in promoting only the own interests, which are often strange or even hostile to the fundamental interests of society.
To solve the multiple problems faced by Moldova, the economic system can be consolidated by attracting investments. At this stage, the agricultural subsidies are vitally necessary. Step by step, there appear economic units and bodies able to cope with the competition on the market, where one can become popular only by providing products of a high quality, stated Valeriu Matei.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the declaration of Moldova’s Independence, IPN News Agency decided to depict the portrait of the current Republic of Moldova. For the purpose, it provoked a number of people, including state officials, politicians, businessmen, civil rights activists and persons without posts and titles, but who have what to say. The generic picture is called “Thoughts about and for Moldova”. The articles started to be published on July 18.
