{IPN analysis} One more ‘political’ bomb exploded in the yard of the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) or what remained from it. Though it formed part of the high caliber ‘bombs’ like the hunting incident in the Domneasca Forest and the tapping of high-ranking officials’ phones, this one is more special and subtle by manifestation and effects. It’s a kind of ‘neutron bomb’ that kills people by giving out neutrons, but does not cause a lot of damage to buildings. [Bomb-reactions] Last weekend it became known that the license numbers of the work vehicle used by the leader of the ruling Liberal Party (PL) Mihai Ghimpu were false and thus illegal. In fact, this and other incidents became ‘weapons of mass destruction’ not because of the illegal elements they contain, but owing to the specific reaction of the high-ranking officials and state institution in difficult situations or to challenges. Surely, not the accidental killing of a man during hunting had the effect of a real bomb in society, but the attempt to hide the incident in the Domneasca Forest that involved a large number of state institutions and officials and with different posts, including high-ranking. The top of this huge ’iceberg’ of collective conspiracy is associated with the Democratic Party (PDM), even directly with its leader, Head of Parliament Marian Lupu, who, at the initial stage, tried to shift emphases, disseminating the phrase ‘inappropriate communication’ instead of ‘hiding’. A reaction in accordance with the law would have prevented this case from becoming ‘a bomb’. The top of the ‘iceberg’ in the wiretapping case is associated with the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and even with its chairman, Prime Minister Vlad Filat, who replaced the acknowledgment of shortcomings in the work of certain state institutions with attacks against the ‘organizers of this provocation’, which, in fact, cannot be removed from the books. Both in the first case and in the second, the political situation in the country and in the Alliance for European Integration could have been improved at a later stage if the two officials had offered public apologies to society, a kind of ‘mea culpa’, in compliance with the current common sense rules. [Behavior of the astute one] But it didn’t happen so and Mihai Ghimpu reacted in a different way, making thus himself the related scandal a ‘neutron bomb’. He said that the license numbers of the car by which he travels was not his problem, making it clear the police stopped the vehicle not accidentally, but in accordance with a scenario that had been earlier applied to a Romanian diplomat working in Chisinau by ‘enemies of the nation’. Actually, these ‘enemies’ cannot be removed from the books either, but this does not exempt Mihai Ghimpu from the obligation to obey the law and to sincerely admit the violation at least. Another behavior of his was like that of the ‘astute one’, which poses a great threat to society owing to the high position that he and others like him hold in the country’s political hierarchy. Specialists say that the law allows having several license numbers. The vehicles used by operative services can have several ‘civil’ license numbers if they are written in special registers. That’s why they are not stopped by the police. But this is not the case of Mihai Ghimpu’s car. The vehicles of high-ranking officials can have ‘civil’ numbers when they go abroad, but this does not apply to Ghimpu either. In all the cases, the additional number plates must be accompanied by an additional technical passport of the car. Ghimpu’s car didn’t have such a passport. Thus, the numbers were false. We can believe Mihai Ghimpu, who said that he does not bear responsibility for the false number of the car by which he travels, only if we spare him from responsibility before the country that he rules and before the people to whom he often makes reference. Also, we cannot believe that the driver was to blame as in the spheres in which Mihai Ghimpu is now the driver is more controlled and is more trusted than the wife, lover and party colleagues altogether. A confirmation is the fact that the driver is from the native village of Mister Ghimpu. The analogy with the Romanian military attaché who was stopped by the traffic police in Chisinau is not appropriate as the diplomat acted in accordance with the law and with common sense. The status of diplomat enabled him not to stop the car, but if he stopped he admitted that he drank alcohol and didn’t use stratagems to find a way out of the situation. His country recalled him immediately, also acting in accordance with the law and the common sense rules. In fact, they say that the military attaché seldom drank alcohol, but if he was caught, he behaved like a man. For what purposes can the false numbers of official cars be used? The most evident answer is: in order to use the vehicles and resources of the state for personal purposes, again illegally. Why is the use of false numbers dangerous? One of the answers can be: because such cars and the people inside them can drive away from the place of road accidents, including those that result in death. Does anyone believe that this is impossible after the case in the Domneasca Forest? [Danger to health] Mihai Ghimpu’s behavior is very dangerous for the moral health of society, like the neuron bomb, because it justifies and generates mentality according to which you can travel by cars with tinted windows and false numbers, you can go hunting illegally and take part in the hiding of murders, you can break the law as you want and you will not be punished, if you are in power... The practice of selective and partial justice and democracy also generates such mentality. The danger becomes more evident when considering the deprivation of Ghimpu of driver’s license for violating the traffic rules in Romania recently, his aggressive and unjustified intolerance of representatives of the media, etc. The political bombs launched by Lupu and Filat pose a threat to people and buildings, including the AEI, the European course, the country... The neutron bomb detonated by Ghimpu attacks the people, their mentality and morals, but does not destroy the constructions, including the AEI, the European course, the country and the post of leader of a ruling party, so that these constructions could be used later. At the same time, Mihai Ghimpu tends to play the role of mediator and judge in the relations with the other leaders and parties in power. His solution is for all those who discredited themselves to leave politics and for the AEI to remain. “But who are the judges?” ask the people. In a similar way, Mihai Ghimpu does not accept blame for the situation in the AEI and the country. He regularly says that he does not hold public posts formally. However, informally he has maximum influence. The official numbers of his work car – RM P 002 – clearly show that he is the second most important person in the Parliament of Moldova, with all the component parts of this role, especially after the removal of the post of First Deputy Speaker and the resignation of Vlad Plahotniuc, who held this post. In a televised debate involving representatives of the parliamentary groups of the three parties that formed the alliance, the schemes and levers of influence used to promote party interests were revealed, possibly involuntarily. For example, in order to protect the head of a district tax institution, who was put forward by the PL, Mihai Ghimpu phoned the leader of the Liberal-Democratic parliamentary group Valeriu Strelet, who, for his part, phoned the head of the Main State Tax Inspectorate Nicolae Vicol to ask explanations from him. The fact that this telephone discussion between Strelet and Vicol was tapped and presented to the general public as an argument revealing the political interference of the PLDM is from another play, but shows that the PL uses as much influence as it needs. Possible recordings of the direct discussions between Mihai Ghimpu and the ministers or division heads named by the PL haven’t been made public, but we can see that he is very convincing when he delivers messages even if he does not hold public posts. [“So that everyone’s stupidity could be seen”] Marian Lupu and Vlad Filat now do not have successors as party leader or they are now known. The leader of the PL has a successor who is well known – the deputy chairman of the PL, Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca. According to general perception, Dorin Chirtoaca has more in common with morals and the common sense, and possibly with the law, than his party boss. For example, the media reported that on his birthday he did not come to work so as not to oblige the functionaries to queue up, like at a mausoleum, to give presents to him. The Chisinau City Hall was the only institution that announced officially, shortly after the hunting incident in the Domneasca Forest became known, that the hunting involved a municipal councilor. At that moment, none of the officials spoke about the responsibility of all the participants in the hunting, not only of the prosecutor general. Only Chirtoaca stated it was unhealthy for the partisans in the hunting to remain in the forest and amuse themselves after a man was shot. Meanwhile, Chirtoaca’s time is passing and his political image is affected by other images. The experts and analysts who say that these conflicts and political ‘bombs’ have also beneficial effects on the process of cleansing the political class and morally improving Moldovan society are right. At the end of the 17th century, Russian tsar Peter I compelled the then boyars to shave their beards “so that ‘everyone’s stupidity could be seen”. The modern ‘shaving of beards’ also reveal things. But we are now not very sure that the current political leaders are able to sign a new ruling agreement that will be functional and will ensure the functionality of state institutions, justice, equity and morality in Moldova. [Valeriu Vasilica, IPN]