IPN interview

Despite the accusations made against the Communist Government until 2009, the Communists seem to have escaped punishment and now, being in the opposition, they feel like in God’s country. According to Alexandru Oleinic, managing co-chairman of the People’s Party of Moldova, these are signs that the Communists’ return to power is imminent.

  - This week is decisive for the political war of the last months. Will the head of state keep his word? Who will be offered to form the new Government?

  - The political war, but, in fact, the negotiations for re-sharing the power, persists. It only withdrew from the TV screens behind thicker doors and to dark places. Indisputably, the leader of the PLDM will be proposed for premiership, first of all in order to test the limits of the negative reaction of the alliance partners. It is certain that, regardless of who will hold the post of Premier, this will be a Prime Minister loyal to the Communists, i.e. tolerant and forgiving with the leaders of the PCRM, as it happened after 2009. Regretfully, Moldova hasn’t yet had an anticommunist Premier.

  - What do you mean?

  - After eight years of struggle against the Communists, we ascertained that the PCRM didn’t leave the government in fact. It only doesn’t hold posts in the Cabinet. But, every political decision is taken by taking account of Communists’ interests. After accusations were made about the April 7, 2009 events, things calmed down. What did the accusations of expropriation, appropriation of public funds, the cases tried unfairly and many other serious accusations made against the Communist government result in? Where are the criminal cases started? The current democratic anticommunist alliance keeps silent, hoping that the Communists will also keep silent and will not reveal what the current rulers do. The Communists never left government.

  -  In this period of evident political instability and crisis of the power, the Communists became much more active. What goal do they pursue?

  -  They want to return to power at any cost... Not having the courage after 2009 to exactly and correctly define the disaster of the Communist government during eight years (2001-2009), so that the people knew the ‘accomplishments” of their deplorable management, today, after three years of Democratic government, the Communists behave like the future rescuers of the state. This is a very sad reality.

  - Are such ‘couples’ as ‘PLDM+PCRM’ or ‘PDM+PCRM’ among the possible formats for constituting a ruling alliance? Are they possible or they are only in the imagination of analysts?

  -  Why not? This is what I said earlier, especially because such coalitions that no longer seem ‘monstrous’ (after I heard such slogans as “Moldova without Voronin!” and “Moldova without Communists!”) exist in districts and different settlements in a sufficient number... There, the Liberals get along well with the Communists, as the Liberal-Democrats and the Democrats, in fact. The people even wonder if the Liberals’ anticommunism is valid only in Chisinau? Or is “Moldova without Communists!” valid only in Chisinau? Are the confrontations between the PDM and PCRM valid only in Chisinau too? This points to a real danger of the Communists returning to power in Moldova. More exactly, this will make the Communists who never left government in Moldova to join up and strengthen their forces.

  -  You, Mister Oleinic, are among the few people who remained in politics after being in the opposition under the Communist rule. What did it mean being in the opposition and what happened to the others afterward?

  -  Unfortunately, there are now in politics few of those who struggled to establish real democracy in Moldova. During eight years I had been in a very stiff anticommunist opposition, without access to the media and information technology, without rostrum, but with persecution, unexamined initiatives and proposals, with closed microphones and banned protests, with continues wiretapping, and without freedom of expression. The opposition’s position was fully ignored. Today the Communists are like in heaven. They rule in districts and villages together with the AEI with no responsibility, have access to everything (the mass media, parliamentary rostrum, the right to stage protests, become involved in fights, do not go to work for months and receive salaries from the money of the working people...), manipulate the rulers who coquette with them and continuously destroy the state, together with the rest.

  - Will a reassessment, a re-judging of the Communists’ actions be a positive sign for the West and the Moldovan people?

  - The observance of the legislation will be a positive sign for everyone. This will bring to an end the feeling of total immunity enjoyed by some of the functionaries now in different situations, starting with the elementary traffic rules, when another 5-10 cars with Transnistrian license plates, where there are senior officials with permits, pass at the red color of the traffic lights and ending with all kinds of dubious businesses. The lack of fear and the easiness with which the law is broken must be punished. Unfortunately, these negative phenomena started under the Communist rules and continue.

Valeriu Vasilică, IPN