IPN Analysis: The expected changes in the structure of tax deductions from the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia to the central budget of Moldova caused heated contradictory debates about the economic development and financial impendence of the autonomous region. The discussions gave the impression that the arguments of the side in fact have nothing to do with economy and finance. What are the real reasons behind the acts of the representatives of Comrat and Chisinau and what hinders a constructive dialogue between them?
Moldova’s plans to make amendments to the Law on the Local Public Finances generated a new wave of criticism on the part of the Gagauz administration against the central authorities as the proposed changes modify the method of transferring deductions from the autonomous unit to the central budget.
Among others, the new amendments envision that 25% of the income taxes paid by individuals and 20% of the incomes taxes paid by legal entries will remain in the budget of Gagauzia, instead of 100% as now. Furthermore, only half of the region’s revenues from the value added tax and excises will remain in the local budget. The given amendments were already adopted in two readings and need to be passed in the final reading to take effect. Those from Comrat consider that the changes will be debated in the third reading in one of the first autumn sittings of Parliament.
To be correct, it should be noted that the Government’s plans do not include reducing the budget of the autonomous unit. The shortages will be covered by increasing the amounts transferred from the Ministry of Finance. But such an approach is unacceptable to Comrat, whose official representatives named it “strengthening of the financial dependence on the center”. The region’s authorities until now were able to accumulate almost half of the budget from own resources. But now the given share will fall to one quarter.
The future changes in the interbudgetary relations between Gagauzia and the Government of Moldova made the region’s economic potential the focus of public discussions. Members of the Executive Committee and the People’s Assembly and representatives of public organizations, during programs on the local TV channels already started to ask: will Gagauzia be able to survive independently? Despite the rather low economic-financial indicators of the region, many of the region’s inhabitants give an affirmative answer.
In fact, it would be naivety to think that the discussions are based on economic logic as it is simply impossible to seriously follow the clarifications as to who causes damage to whom and who maintains whom, given that Moldova keeps its economic stability mainly owing to foreign financing and the largest part of the infrastructure and social projects in Gagauzia are implemented with donors’ money. In reality, there is an incongruous confrontation of a different nature.
The history of the resolution of the Moldovan-Gagauz conflict, which closed in 1994 by the adoption of the law on the special legal status of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauz Yeri, has a nice official version that is annually reminded by the Comrat officials on the occasion of different festivities. It is formulated as follows: the peaceful settlement of the conflict became possible owing to the wisdom of the Moldovan and Gagauz peoples that showed an example of civilization and tolerance to the world.
We see in this formulation a dose of shrewdness on the part of the authorities of Moldova and Gagauzia. Though such a presentation of history is justified from the viewpoint of the calamity of the social relations, it is however hard to believe that Moldova, which had lost control over a part of its territory two years ago, granted additional sovereignty to one of its regions voluntarily and ‘with wisdom’. Without clarifying in detail the events of 1990-1994, we will say that only a unitary state would accept creating an ethnical autonomous unit on its territory or this happens only under constraint and under the pressure of invincible circumstances. It is hard to accept that the Gagauz region can seek independence from Moldova, by the example of Transnistria, without support, which it didn’t have then, unlike Transnistria.
This way or another, the experience of the time that passed since then shows that the behavior and logic of the actions of the Gagauz and Moldovan political elites have different directions. The policy of the Moldovan governments aims to integrate the autonomous unit into its unitary system, while the Gagauz side sticks to the law adopted in1994, pointing to the fact that it is not respected.
At this historical stage, unlike the conditions existing 20 years ago, the relations between Comrat and Chisinau should be based on another format than the ‘whom to whom’ one, at least for the reason that otherwise there will appear foreign ‘friends’ that will be able to transform an internal state matter into an international confrontation problem. Surely, such a perspective can satisfy neither Gagauzia nor Moldova.
Moldova and Gagauzia have almost everything for their relations to be based on partnership interaction, not confrontations. There are European countries with autonomous regions that develop prosperously. There are responsible functionaries who realized that dialogue is preferable to pressure, ultimatums and barricades. There is also the negative experience of the bilateral relations (let’s remember the year 2002 and the removal of the Bashkan Dmitri Croitor), which show that the radical actions do not produce positive results. Only one resource is missing, which is the most important one - mutual confidence.
Obtaining this confidence indisputably represents a task for both of the sides. For the Gagauz people to have confidence in the policy of the Moldovan authorities, their representatives should be integrated into the national political elite, should take part in the formulation and implementation of the internal and external policy. But, for the Moldovan political class and the population to have confidence in the Gagauz authorities and not to see a danger to the national sovereignty in them, the political and public activists in the region must de facto take part in the building of the state and must distance themselves from the few radicals who continue to live with the illusion of having a Gagaus Republic.
It is actually the interest that propels politics. That’s why the relations between Gagauzia and Moldova will become non-conflict only when the elected officials of both of the sides interpret and understand the national interests of the population in a similar way. The people should only realize the unity of these interests or should create conditions for them to be joint.
Veaceslav Craciun for IPN
