A narrow circle of influential people fund all Moldovan parties, Sergiu Ostaf

“The political class in Moldova is heavily influenced by economic groups. The parties’ funding is a very controversial issue, as a narrow circle of influential people fund all Moldovan parties”, stated Sergiu Ostaf, director of the Human Rights Resource Center (CReDO), in an interview with Info-Prim Neo. Ostaf made this statement in response to frequent accusations from politicians that the civil society organizations (CSOs) represent the interest of foreign forces because they rely heavily on foreign financing. “Therefore, if these accusations come from decision makers and politicians, then this is nothing but an excuse for their failure to create better conditions for CSOs’ functioning. It is them who are the most responsible for CSOs’ overdependence on foreign grants. Furthermore, civil society gets only 3-5% of the total foreign funding Moldova receives, with the rest 95% going to public authorities. So, the accusations about the CSOs' use of foreign funds are groundless, especially considering that CSOs manage their money transparently”, said Ostaf. Sergiu Ostaf added that politicians and public authorities demonstrated a corporate interest in relation to civil society. “Regretfully, politicians (parties) and decision makers (public authorities), with few exceptions, demonstrate a corporate interest by not permitting the development and expansion of civil society. They want to keep control over behavior patterns, practiced values, to promote their political or economical interests. CSOs are seen as rivals because they promote civic values and models, institutions for ensuring accountability, transparency of public interest issues”, he said. Sergiu Ostaf said that since 2008 the CSOs have developed and proposed a number of legislative proposals which would afford adequate financing for the SCOs and thus allow for their development, “however they have not been considered by the decision makers”.