The preparations for the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019 cause headaches to the politicians. These make all kind of shows to attract the sympathy of voters. The latter have to only analyze things and form an opinion. In the talk show “In Depth” broadcast by Pro TV channel on October 11, the prelude to the political show that was to take place in Moldova’s Parliament the next day was witnessed. The protagonists of the program were MPs Sergiu Sîrbu, Vadim Pistrinciuc and Vasile Bolea, who represent the groups of the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM), the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) and the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) respectively. The debates centered on the introduction of the draft law to amend the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova (preamble, Article 1 and Article 8) in the agenda of the Parliament’s siting.

The essence of the debate resided in the PDM’s intention to introduce the provision concerning the European integration course of the Republic of Moldova as the county’s strategic development course in the Constitution. The representative of the PDM Sergiu Sîrbu said trenchantly: “We want to make it clear once and for all that the European integration is our development course. We want this notion to be introduced in the Constitution and that Constitutional Court judgement to be implemented. From now on we should deal with the internal problems of the Republic of Moldova”. The PDM’s plea to do something once and for all is shared by another three parliamentary groups that, alongside the PDM, would ensure the 68 votes (at least 2/3 of the 101 MPs) needed for adopting the bill to amend the Constitution. But the groups of the Liberal Party (PL) and the PLDM want the once and for all approach to problem solving to be equally applied to other major subjects that divide even harsher Moldovan society – the name of the official language of the Republic of Moldova. Namely the half measures applied to solve the problems that divide Moldovan society once and for all emphasize the propagandistic character of the PDM’s initiative. Indeed, if the Constitutional Court (CC) confirmed a scientific and historical truth – the Romanian language is the official language of the Republic of Moldova and is equally recognized as such by the highest scientific institution and the Declaration of Independence -  by Decision No.36 of November 5, 2013, why does the PDM oppose adjusting Article 13 of the Constitution to the CC decision? Why cannot a scientific truth confirmed by a legal document be enshrined in the Constitution, while a political option, even if this is very important, is promoted in this regard? The answer is evident – because the political interest prevails and all kinds of subterfuges are to promote this. 

The PDM members’ half measures in relation to the problems that divide the Republic of Moldova can be elucidated through the so-called principles and values. Thus, the bill to introduce the clause about the European integration course of the Republic of Moldova as the county’s strategic development course in the Constitution was signed and promoted including by the ex-Communist MPs elected in November 2014 to promote the Eurasian integration, who joined the PDM and, respectively, overnight became pro-European. Such behavior of political “weathercock” that changes the orientation course depending on the opportunist political interests is not applicable to the convictions that defy a scientific truth. The irony is that the pro-European approach of the PDM comes amid European institutions’ worrying assessments of the progress made by the Moldova authorities in implementing the EU – Moldova Association Agreement. This thing was noted by Lib-Dem Vadim Pistrinciuc in the mentioned program: “The preamble of the Association Agreement stipulates particular conditions that the Republic of Moldova should meet, related to the European values, human rights and dignity, freedom, equity, the rule of law, etc. Unprecedented criticism was leveled at all these chapters, without exception, during the past year. Instead of holding hearings, debates in Parliament to see why this happens, we do what we should not do.” Thus, the Liberal-Democratic MP’s conclusion is that the PDM’s initiative is actually a propagandistic element that presents the party as the promotor of the European integration, but this is actually not supported in this approach by those who only pretend to be pro-European.

In connection with the aforementioned, Socialist MP Vasile Bolea said in a divided society, when the government is trying to impose particular issues related to the ideology of some of the pro-European parties, this leads to further division in society….The people should have been consulted about the development course at a referendum, but this wasn’t done. It’s strange that the representatives of the PSRM deliberately mix up the political ideology with an integrationist process. The leaders of the PSRM are descendants of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) that on March 24, 2005 proposed that the parliamentary groups should sign the Moldovan Parliament’s DECLARATION concerning the political partnership for achieving the European integration objectives, which said: Being political opponents, having different opinions on the methods, stages and periods for reforming the economy and the social sphere of the Republic of Moldova, mentioning the existence of particular disagreements on domestic and foreign policy matters, the members of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova adopt the following Declaration on political partnership for four years (2005-2009) in a move to achieve the European integration objectives. We consider the further development of the Republic of Moldova can be ensured only by the consistent and irreversible promotion of the strategic European integration course... All the parliamentary groups, all the 101 MPs, regardless of the embraced ideology, voted the given declaration.

So, the mixing up of the ideology with the European course is a simple propagandistic trick and an additional proof of this is the fact that the current leaders of the PSRM – Zinaida Grecheanyi and Igor Dodon as the first managers of the Government installed by the PCRM – reaffirmed in 2009 the irreversible pro-European option: The incontestable desideratum of the majority of our citizens, the country’s integration into the European Union, is the irreversible and natural priority of the domestic and foreign policy course of the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, since 2009 until now, the current leaders of the PSRM changed their option as regards the integrationist process from the pro-European one to the Eurasian one and vice versa for several times. The last message of the President in this regard was the one delivered at an international forum on June 28, 2018: Our goal is to modernize and develop the Republic of Moldova. Reforms are to be done and implemented exclusively for the peoples’ benefit. We are to work out a strategic plan of reforms so that when the issue of Moldova’s entry into the European union is raised, the country is prepared from all viewpoints.

In conclusion, we can say that before the parliamentary elections the parties, which for political reasons behave like weathercocks, update their integrationist approaches in order to attract the voters’ support.

IPN Experts