In an interview for IPN Agency, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Moldova Zdeněk Krejčí said the Czech people overcame the illusion that they want to live in a country-bridge between the East and the West, reaching a clear decision that they want to integrate into the Western civilizational area.
According to the diplomat, before realizing the place and role in history, the people of his country experienced several unattainable illusions, one of these being associated with the “Prague Spring” of 1986. “As to the “Prague Spring”, this was an attempt to reform socialism. We wanted to build democratic socialism or, how it was called then “socialism with a human face”. Today we already know that they worked on the “quadrature of the circle”, on an illusion as it is impossible to reset the Socialist order of Soviet type. That was a very interesting period, with hopes and pronounced development in all the spheres of life, both in the economy and in the spiritual life. For example, they still speak about the Czechoslovak New Wave in cinema. We also had another illusion that appeared in 1945 – 1947, after World War II, that we will be a kind of bridge and the West and the East will meet in our country. This illusion reappeared in the 1960s, especially in 1968, during the “Prague Spring”. And we finally understood that the bridge is the place where everyone is heading for different directions and it is better to keep to a bank, but best of all to the correctly chosen bank.”
The Moldovans also seem to have forgotten their “original” illusion of seeing Moldova a country-bridge, but also the laws, norms, rules, standards... In a draft report on the implementation of the EU – Moldova Association Agreement, the European Parliament expresses its concern about the continuous and consistent deviation by the Republic of Moldova from the European democratic standards. It notes with regret that the Moldovan authorities continue to ignore the common opinion and recommendations of renowned European institutions, among which is the Venice Commission, in particular over the recent amendments made to the electoral legislation. There are also departures related to the invalidation of the mayoral elections in Chisinau municipality and the lack of transparency in the case of the banking fraud.
While the resolution adopted by the European Parliament says, among others, that implementing the reforms to which Moldova has committed must be a top priority. Although MEPs note some achievements in the fields of trade, energy, banking sector reform, public administration and public financial management, they are particularly concerned about its levels of corruption, lack of independent judiciary and backsliding on democratic standards. “Moldova is trapped by oligarchic interests, with economic and political power in the hands of a small group of people exerting their influence on parliament, the government, political parties, the state administration, the police, the judiciary and the media”.
Ours yet proceed with their plans. After reforming the Government and reducing the number of ministries from 16 to 9, the Democratic Party proposed holding a referendum on the reduction in the number of seats of MP from 101 to 61 and on the possibility of recalling the MPs who fall into disgrace. “It will be much easier to control the work of MPs,” stated Democratic MP Eugen Nickiforchuck.
But there are also voices saying the holding of a consultative referendum together with the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019 is impossible. The Democratic Party’s initiative is manipulative and will not actually result in the modification of the Parliament’s structure, said experts invited to the talk show “Expertise hour” on Jurnal TV channel. Political analyst Corneliu Ciurea said “it is an absolutely normal electoral strategy designed to promote ideas, initiatives that are popular with the people and to generate discussions on these issues that could not be avoided by many politicians. For example, the Socialists supported this idea earlier and it would be abnormal for them to reject it now.”
The IPN Experts wonder what the PDM’s actual goal is? The answer seems to be evident – exactly what the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) aimed to do before the parliamentary elections of November 30, 2014. The PLDM then aimed to make use of the find applied by the President of Romania Traian Băsescu at the presidential elections of November 22, 2009. To have a powerful drive in the electoral competition, Traian Băsescu decreed the holding of a consultative referendum on the switchover from a bicameral parliament to a unicameral one and the reduction of the number of MPs by about 300. Even if that plebiscite was validated, its outcome was never implemented. But the find helped Traian Băsescu beat his Social-Democratic opponent Mircea Geoană. A propos, this was supported by the PDM by the slogan – Remember three words “Mircea Geoană – President”. This is what the PLDM wanted to do in 2014, but the Constitutional Court didn’t allow it to. This is probably what the PDM wants to do at the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019, concluded the experts.
Against such a background, over 70% of the respondents of a poll carried out by the Institute for Marketing and Polls IMAS consider things in Moldova go wrong, while 22% consider the direction is good. 7% of those interviewed said they don’t know or didn’t answer. According to IMAS director general Doru Petrutsi, trends in the studies conducted since 2015 until the investiture of the current Government show a negative high was recorded three years ago, when 91% of those polled said the direction was wrong. Only 6% then said the direction was good.
However, if early parliamentary elections were held next Sunday, four parties would enter Parliament. 27.1% of the respondents of a poll would vote for the Party of Socialists (PSRM), 15.7% for the Democratic Party (PDM), 7.1% for the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” (PPPDA), while 5.8% for the Party “Action and Solidarity” (PAS). The number of the undecided ones is higher than 17%.
By the grades given by the respondents to the activity of politicians, President Igor Dodon tops the rankings. He is followed by Pavel Filip, Vladimir Voronin, Ilan Shor, Vlad Plahotniuc and Irina Vlah.
But real results were achieved by Greco-Roman wrestler Daniel Cataraga who, for the second consecutive year, obtained the title of Under 23 world champion. Moldovan wrestler Alexandru Biciu lost to Japan’s Katsuaki Endo in the final of the 63 kg class, but won silver.
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