The initiative of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia concerning the holding a local referendum has three faults, according to the central authorities – the legality, relevance and the political aspect, Liberal-Democratic MP Valeriu Ghiletski said, commenting on the Gagauz authorities’ decision to hold a referendum on Moldova’s foreign policy and on the right of the local population to declare their independence if Moldova loses its sovereignty.
“Form the viewpoint of the Liberal Democratic Party and the government coalition, the Gagauz authorities’ intention to hold a referendum has three serious faults. The first is the legality of the referendum as there is a court decision stating that it is illegal. When we organize such events, we must have legal reasons. Here we have a perilous element as somebody wants to set a very dangerous precedent,” the lawmaker stated in the public debate “Chances of a civilized dialogue between Chisinau and Comrat and its dangerous alternatives”, organized by IPN Agency.
The second fault is the plebiscite’s relevance and necessity. “The setting of the country’s foreign course is within the competence of the central authorities, not the local ones. I don’t think that a referendum is needed. The third aspect is political in character. It is evident that by this referendum they try to obstruct Moldova’s European course. We are in a year when we plan to sign and ratify the Association Agreement with the EU and this referendum may affect these plans,” said Valeriu Ghiletski.
He described the situation in Gagauzia as tense, but not dramatic, underlining that the dialogue between Comrat and Chisinau, which was already launched at governmental and parliamentary levels, can continue.
“From my purely subjective point of view, this dialogue could have started earlier. The precedent that is being set is very dangerous. The referendum results may lead to the destabilization of the situation in the country and the tensions may stretch to include the ethnical element,” stated the MP.
The debate “Chances of a civilized dialogue between Chisinau and Comrat and its dangerous alternatives” is the 25th of the series “Development of political culture by public debates”, which is supported by the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
