The demands formulated by the Civic Forum represented a helping hand given to the government with which this could have been taken out of the morass that it entered itself. This lifebuoy was offered by civil society, the protesters and the extraparliamentary or opposition parties, director of the Institute for Public Policy Arcadie Barbarosie said in the public debate “Need for communication and change. Virtual dialogue between civil society and the government on the prospects of the demands put forward by the Civic Forum”, which is the 50th of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” organized by IPN News Agency in concert with Radio Moldova
According to the expert, the goal of the forum was not to destroy the government, but to help it work better. “The government didn’t want to weaken its base, but the participants in the Civic Forum formulated fundamental problems faced by society and possible solutions to them. The fact that the participants in the Forum were right is confirmed by the letter of the Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, where the same demands can be found,” stated Arcadie Barbarosie.
He noted that these demands are not an ultimatum, but they are emergency measures that must be taken within 30 days so as to try and unlock external financing.
According to the executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) Igor Botan, who is the standing expert of IPN’s project, the government ignored the content of civil society’s Resolution and, through the agency of the affiliated mass media, shifted emphasis from very important things, accusing that representatives of the Civic Platform “Dignity and Truth”, the “Our Party” and the Party of Socialists stayed alongside at the Forum. “The demands we put forward are stipulated also in the Association Agreement and the Association Agenda. We invented absolutely nothing. There has been a shift of emphasis so as to stigmatize those who have potential to organize protests. They argued that it wasn’t a civic forum because it involved political parties,” he stated.
He also said that the shift of emphasis was aimed at discrediting the Civic Forum. “Anyone knows that the parties form part of civil society. These are agents whose task is to bring people from civil society to the political society,” said Igor Botan.
The participants in the debate said the Civic Forum was an ad-hoc event that deserved full support. Given that it involves civic activists, journalists and ordinary people, the civic forum is a common framework allowing anyone to take part in discussions. The Civic Forum also offers the authorities the possibility of becoming involved.
The public debate “Need for communication and change. Virtual dialogue between civil society and the government on the prospects of the demands put forward by the Civic Forum” is the 50th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
