The eighth extraordinary congress of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) held on September 9, 2018, besides important organizational decisions, adopted a resolution that specifies the desideratum of Moldova’s union with Romania as a natural expression of the ideal of its members. It is for the first time that the PLDM underlines the union desideratum in its official documents. In fact, after the mentioned congress, the party appears as a rivulet that is heading for a possible torrent. It remained for another 8-9 rivulets to come together within this eventual torrent.
The first signals that effort is made to consolidate a unionist pole were transmitted just recently. On the initiative of the National Liberal Party (PNL), seven pro-union parties - PNL, Liberal Reformist Party (PLR), People’s Party of the Republic of Moldova (PPRM), Green Ecologist Party (PEV), Democratic Action Party (PAD), Party “Democracy at Home” and Party “People’s Voice” – had a meeting. If two more parties that were absent (National Unity Party (PUN) and Liberal Party (PL) are added to these seven unionist parties, there will be seven parties that declared themselves unionist a longer period of time ago. After the recent congress, the PLDM became the tenth party that openly embraces the unionist desideratum. In this connection, statistics matter. The register of the Ministry of Justice shows we have 45 parties registered in accordance with the legislation. Of these 45 parties, only a half assert themselves periodical by particular actions, which is are more active. If we take into account that another four-five active political parties sympathize with the unionist current and could even embrace it in particular circumstances, we can conclude that over half of the active political parties support the unionist current one way or another.
It should be noted that there are reasons for a so high concentration of parties on the unionist segment. According to the sociological research commissioned by the Black Sea University Foundation to Magenta Consulting, “28% of Moldova’s population fully and rather supports the union with Romania, these representing the solid nucleus of the unionists. The poll shows the percentage of respondents who support Moldova’s union with Romania would increase to 50-51% if it is noted that the union would bring particular benefits, such as the avoidance of Russia’s control over the Republic of Moldova, better education in schools and universities, high-quality medical services, an impartial and correct justice system, real fight against corruption. Given Moldova’s more evident slip towards authoritarianism that is Russia-Turkish in essence, the option could see a new rise.
The big problem is that it is hard to realize the unionist potential for different reasons. During the past two years, the efforts made to consolidate the unionist entities were made both on the party dimension and the civic one. On the political dimension, effort was made to identity a common unionist candidate for the presidential elections of October – November 2016, but all in vain. Neither the efforts to identify a common unionist candidate for the Chisinau mayoral elections of May-June this year were successful. On the civic dimension, things remained as uncertain. The roadmap of the unionists from the platform of the People’s Council II, which was adopted on March 27, 2016 and was to be implemented by the Union’s Century, which is by March 27, 2018, wasn’t proposed for public debates for assessing the made progress and eventual adjustments. Also, the effort of the Movement “Acțiunea 2012” to stimulate cooperation between the Romanian and Moldovan authorities in achieving the union desideratum by 2018 was unproductive. Moreover, the Century March that was to end with a large-scale assembly in support of the union on September 1, 2018 turned into a protest against the Moldovan authorities, without clearly defining the further prospects of the unionist movement.
The given details show that there is rather crowdedness of political forces and civic movements on the unionist segment than a torrent able to shape its way to the exit to the Great Union. In this connection, it should be noted that the only documents with authentic program value are for now those that came from the Romanian academic community: the work Fund Moldova – investment bridge over the Prut, compiled by the Black Sea University Foundation in 2015 to attract Moldova to Romania’s economic orbit, and the Roadmap of Romania’s Reunification with the Republic of Moldova that was also drawn up by a BSUF expert.
If analyzed closer, we can say that both of the documents designed by the BSUF could serve as a joint platform for unionist parties and civic movements, contributing to their union so as to achieve the set objectives. The common effort made by the unionist entities place the valuable players of the unionist parties and civic movements at the forefront as potential leaders with clear electoral prospects. Or the concentration of these political-civic entities on the unionist segment will produce the discouraging impression of crowdedness, not of combination of efforts. The question here is could the PLDM as a new unionist entity contribute to the transformation of crowdedness into torrent? The answer No is evident.
IPN Experts
