Political researcher Dionis Cenușa considers the European Union can help the Republic of Moldova overcome the pandemic crisis by providing a calendar with deadlines and with the steps that should be taken for becoming eligible to travel in the EU. ”A roadmap with very clear conditions for the countries of the Eastern Partnership is needed,” he stated, noting that this subject was regrettably absent from the agenda of the discussions of the EU and the six EaP states. IPN’s senior contributor developed the issue in a public debate entitled “Movement and place of Moldovan citizens in Europe during and after pandemic: opportunities and risks” that was staged by IPN News Agency.
Dionis Cenușa, a political scientist, researcher at the Institute of Political Sciences at Liebig-Justus University in Giessen, Germany, said the way in which the sanitary crisis was managed by Moldova, compared with other states of the region, should be analyzed from a number of angles. The first aspect is when and how swiftly the state of emergency was declared. This aspect counted a lot.
“If the state of emergency was introduced swiftly, when and, respectively, how quickly and efficiently the central authorities mobilized to introduce restrictions on economic activities and movement inside the country. In this regard, Georgia acted the best and is ahead of other countries of the region, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, and compared with Moldova and Ukraine, as Moldova put off the declaring of the state of emergency for several days and this influenced the pace of virus spread,” stated the expert.
The second important aspect was the way in which the state of emergency was overcome, how sawfly the restrictions were lifted, how the economic activities were resumed and the rules applicable to public places were relaxed, etc. Georgia also managed the situation better here.
“Regrettably, Moldova didn’t have where to choose from and had to gradually relax the restrictions on economic activities, owing to the budget deficit and current payment needs. The same is true about Ukraine. This is the explanation for the continuation of the first wave of pandemic and the start of the second wave in Moldova. I believe Moldova will still witness the first wave in autumn. The way in which the healthcare sector mobilized, its state, how many beds, doctors and pieces of equipment have been available are also important,” stated Dionis Cenușa.
The debate “Movement and place of Moldovan citizens in Europe during and after pandemic: opportunities and risks” was the 141st installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
