The legislative proposal submitted by the MPs of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists to strengthen the mechanisms for ensuring the country’s permanent neutrality is not useless as there are constitutional principles that that can be developed into law, the standing expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan stated in a public debate entitled “Moldova’s status of neutrality: How shall we turn aspiration into shield: Legislative and political reflections with flame of war nearby”.
“It is very important to realize that the moment is opportune given the context. There is an armed conflict in Ukraine and there are a number of very subtle aspects here. So, Russia says there is no war. A problem appears here: if it is not a war, as Russia says, the Republic of Moldova can ignore the principle of neutrality in relation to these states. This aspect should be debated. When the bill is discussed in Parliament, these things should be considered,” said Igor Boțan.
The expert noted that the states that recognize the integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova know that Moldova is a neutral state and this status is stipulated in the Constitution. The political parties should debate this issue in Parliament and reach a consensus. “Our economic potential is very small and the participation in all kinds of international exercises, missions is an opportunity for our service members to learn how to better defend themselves and how the Republic of Moldova can conduct international missions,” said Igor Boțan.
According to the expert, the Bloc of Communists and Socialists is interested in promoting this legislative proposal. It says that the constitutional principle of permanent neutrality should be developed into law so as to specify particular things. It should be clear that the declaring of the neutrality status does not prevent a potential aggressor from attacking the Republic of Moldova. Therefore, it is noted that a neutral state should have the capacity to defend itself.
“When we speak about permanent neutrality, we refer to military blocs outside the Republic of Moldova and to our attitude to eventual wars, including the war in Ukraine. We see that the great players dare to change the motions and this makes things more difficult. We must have a clear attitude as, if we act in a particular way in this conflict in Ukraine, we can find ourselves in a not at all pleasant situation,” warned Igor Boțan.
He noted that Russia replaced the notion of “war” with “special operation” because, in accordance with Article 353 of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation, those who start a war must bear criminal responsibility in the form of 15 to 20 years in jail.
“Our MPs should take into account the fact that the Constitutional Court’s decision of 2017 develops the notion of permanent neutrality and, what is more important, that the Constitution cannot be a suicidal document. If we feel a danger threatening the country or if we feel that this status protects us, we should find the instruments needed to strengthen it and should transmit messages to the potential non-friends of the Republic of Moldova about the existence of this status,” said Igor Boțan.
The public debate titled “Moldova’s status of neutrality: How shall we turn aspiration into shield: Legislative and political reflections with flame of war nearby” was the 228th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
