Farmers’ protests are decent and do not expressly show to be political in character, but have a political component implicitly. The permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan explained that when the problems start to be discussed in Parliament, they turn political to a particular extent. The expert developed the issue in a public debate hosted by IPN.
Nevertheless, Igor Boțan doesn’t see how the farmers’ protest movement can turn into a political project. He believes that the goal of the protests is not to become a political project, but to attract the authorities’ attention to the problems faced in this sector of the economy. “I don’t think there is a political element in this farmers’ protest. It will be a pity if this farmers’ movement turns to politics. I hope this will not happen,” said the expert.
He admitted that the protesters exert pressure as they want to defend their interests, but the political speculators that appear are not their blame. “I’m glad that they are active and I want the other sections of the Republic of Moldova’s economy to follow this positive example of theirs. They can protest, seek rights, but within the limits of decency and the law. The rest is public property for us as I learn a lot of things owing to their protests, as the other citizens do. I realize that to assert oneself, one should work hard, do something and be active. The politicians should be made to prove that they deserve their high-ranking posts. I consider this is happening,” stated Igor Boțan.
According to the expert, the farmers are the grass roots, the persons who are more traditionalist and know that the ideal formula is “ask and it will be given to you”. “So, they ask and have the right to ask as agriculture is an extremely important sector of the Republic of Moldova. We all know this. For two years, we experienced drought and this thing cannot be overlooked. This year we had a rainy spring and we then had very severe drought and we can understand the farmers, not to mention last year, which was disastrous for farmers. And we indeed see how much the climatic factor influences the situation in the Republic of Moldova,” stated Igor Boțan.
He reminded that Moldova in 2021 didn’t have a Prime Minister for nine months, but the country saw an economic growth of almost 14% as the weather conditions were very good for farmers. “Now, after two years, we realize that there are problems indeed. I think the protest at least does not go beyond the limits of decency. It is an absolutely decent protest. They came with their tractors to the city, but this is a method of grabbing attention. I, as a consumer, heard that they protest and that they experience difficulties, but it happened only because they took to the streets, mobilized and organized themselves. This thing makes an impression,” noted Igor Boțan.
The public debate entitled “What do farmers want? What can Government do?” was the 296th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
