The progressive development of the pandemic situation in the Republic of Moldova is based on the human factor, as the population does not obey the imposed anti-epidemic rules, and on the administrative facto,r because the authorities committed a number errors, the standing expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan stated in a public debate entitled “Movement and place of Moldovan citizens in Europe during and after pandemic: opportunities and risks” that was staged by IPN News Agency.
As to the human factor, Igor Boțan said the Single Command Center at the start of April decided that only the symptomatic persons will be tested for COVID-19 in Moldova. As a result, the asymptomatic persons who weren’t tested didn’t self-isolate and became sources of infection.
As regards the second factor, the expert noted he considers the authorities’ decision to impose fines for not respecting the anti-epidemic measures, of about €1,100, is incorrect as the Moldovans cannot pay such fines. For comparison, in Romania the fines for persons who do not obey the rules are of about €100, several times less than the monthly pension of an elderly person in the neighboring state. “As the people cannot pay the fine of €1,100 in Moldova, we can presume that a niche for corruption can exist and involve representatives of the police and persons who break the rules,” stated Igor Boțan.
According to him, the Synod of the Moldovan Orthodox Church on May 20 thanked the police for treating the deviations indulgently. “This means the priests tell us that the police close the eyes when they see violations of the rules. If we put the administrative and human factors together, we understand why the pandemic in the Republic of Moldova didn’t follow a downward trend,” concluded the expert.
The debate “Movement and place of Moldovan citizens in Europe during and after pandemic: opportunities and risks” was the 141st installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
