Political analyst Vladimir Socor, of the U.S. Jamestown Foundation, considers the election of a President with declared Russophile views is an unprecedented novelty in the Republic of Moldova. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, the analyst said this is one of the most significant results of 2016, which shows, in part, the disappointment of a large part of the voters in Moldova with the results of the European integration policy, IPN reports.
According to him, there will certainly be cohabitation, but this will be difficult connotation between President Dodon and the government led by the group of Mister Plahotniuc. The heads of state use not only official constitutional leverages, but also their personal authority. In the case of Igor Dodon, these leverages are limited.
“What will Mister Dodon be able to do concretely? To propagate the federalization of the Republic of Moldova. But this will only spoil the atmosphere. Not more than spoiling the atmosphere as he will manage to do nothing concrete in reality. Mister Dodon will be able to obtain access to the Russian market for apple producers, but will be in competition with the government here too. Mister Octavian Calmac is already negotiating increased access to the Russian market for Moldovan producers and surely the concrete results of the negotiations of Mister Calmac will be much more impressive than those of Mister Dodon. So, here too, Mister Dodod does not have too much maneuvering space,” stated Vladimir Socor.
As to how 2017 will look like, Vladimir Socor said from the viewpoint of the Western policy, the EU adopted an expectative position and insistently demands reforms in Moldova in exchange for economic support. “The economic support is for now modest and nearly ensures budget support, but does not ensure at all support for economic development. The United States of America is also in expectative. The new administration of Donald Trump hasn’t yet defined its foreign policy. First of all, it didn’t define it yet in relation to Russia,” stated the political analyst.
He added that the Trump administration’s policy towards Moldova will be a consequence of the policy towards Russia.
