Andrei Sangheli: Every new Cabinet has started things anew for 17 years

[ - Where do you think Moldova has gone up to on its way towards Independence during 17 years?] - It is known there is no absolute independence. We have not made too much of a jump all these years. Moreover, in terms of economic development we have not reached the 1990 level, for example. However, every cabinet did something positive to attain those goals that we saw in the beginning: better life for people, a stronger country and more respected in the world. Yet the tragedy consists in the fact that whenever a new governmental team started the things anew, neglecting the actions of their predecessors. The independence, as any other pyramid is built gradually, using what the others have built, not demolishing. I think it is the Moldovan's ambition to be blamed. But our biggest pain in all these years remains Transnistria, the unsettled conflict. [ - They say you were the most influential or independent Prime-Minister from the whole period after the independence. They bring as arguments your two mandates; a won conflict with the President concerning the dismissal of a minister. What was this power based on, which were its sources?] - I personally did not win anything from anyone. If you refer to the dismissal of the Defense Minister, general Creanga, by the head of the state, I assert now, too, that my position was dictated by my responsibility of the governmental team. Although someone from the team may have been mistaken, the responsibility is mine as a Prime-Minister. I cannot hide behind a finger, a person. I had other similar situations, if you remember, with the ministers Valeriu Bulgari, Vitalie Gorincioi, and I had to face the faction of the Party having endorsed me. Strictly legally it was a question of checks and balances, and in terms of the state's security, dismissing the then Defense minister was a serious danger for the country's independence. The resource of my independence, if anyone says I had it, is related to the trust I had in my team. Not only the Cabinet. I knew to protect teams, to invest in them. We had to make a lot of important decisions, not bearing any delay, sometimes having unpredictable results. We used to have meetings in front of the Government every day almost, attended by 5,000 and more people. They walked from hundred of kilometers from Chisinau. Which party can gather so many people in the square, and which Government could face them? For many people, the world overturned then, the life rules changed. And the Government did not have answers for all of them. Because what happened? In the Soviet system, the politics was the cap and the economy was under it. The cap vanished and a new one did not take shape yet. Yet, the economy had to answer man's daily needs. In drafting the new economic rules, we used our intuition most, our belief that they should be based upon the private property. [ - Which other moments, to the same degree important, do you regret because you could not influence them or you influenced them wrongly?] - We did what the epoch and the people let us to. We worked as a team, I did not make dictator-type decisions. I regret for not managing to re-shape the industrial sector which was very strong at the USSR's level. To make it work for the country. Maybe not accomplishing the agrarian reform. And again – the Transnistrian conflict. [ - Your were “caught” by the period press with the phrase that Romania has not given Moldova “any pencil.” How do you perceive that phrase, now, after years?] - I said it in very concrete context, when someone wanted to make our team guilty of a very concrete debt to Romania. Emotions were involved: see, Romania is helping us so much, and Moldova does not honor its obligations. I said we did not have any debts then. I am not angry with the press for that, its your job to catch functionaries making mistakes, including language mistakes. I am angry the Moldovan press reached to sell themselves so much. We did not even imagine it was possible in our period. How can you trust such media? [ - How did you react in the moments when you thought the Governments succeeding you erred in important issues?] - Very painfully, especially in clear things. I wanted to say my position, but I have told you that not everyone coming after us believes in continuity. Though, I repeat, every team did right things. Because they work in other periods, in other epoch, I'd say. One merit of today's Government is dealing with strengthening the budget. We could not do this in our time, but we prepared the soil. [ - You have not been seen in the public life lately? What do you do now?] - I deal with real, concrete things, the quality of which I can guarantee. I am a general director of Limagrain Moldova, the representative of the French Limagrain Central Europe, with much weight in the world. It deals with cereal seeds. We deal with genetics, production, protection, sales, that is why we enjoy the results with the local farmers. By the by, all the members of the two Cabinets I led are employed in such prestigious international companies. This is what I meant when I said my duty is to invest in the team.