Ex-minister of education Maia Sandu is ready to return to politics if the obstacles placed in the path of the people who want to contribute to changes are removed. In an interview for the portal Anticoruptie.md, she said she is now on a visit to the U.S. where she is collecting information about engagement possibilities, discussing with persons with experience in education from the NGO sector and with other people concerned about good governance and hopes to create, together with several colleagues, a nongovernmental organization that would contribute to promoting reforms in Moldova, IPN reports.
Maia Sandu noted that regardless of the reasons for which her candidacy for Prime Minister was rejected, she realized from the start that her chances to secure sufficient support in Parliament for the things she wanted to do were very slim. “Even if I didn’t take part in negotiations this summer, I attended several discussions centering on the program of the Leanca II Government and convinced myself that the interest in doing real reforms was very small. Then, the representatives of the Democrat Party looked for excuses for not doing one reform or another, while those from the Liberal Democratic Party didn’t insist much and I don’t think that the coming of the Liberal Party will change somehow the situation because I saw no reform done by this party so far,” she stated.
“The refusal by these parties to discuss the conditions formulated by me was an additional proof that they looked for a person who would help the government to go through a possible ‘hot autumn’ and nothing more. I possibly held interest owing to the credibility I enjoy among the development partners as I could probably help unlock the external financing, but, when the political leaders realized that I would not actually try and polish the image of this government, they decided not to take risks.”
As to the protests mounted by the Civic Platform “Dignity and Truth”, Maia Sandu said the protesters formulated absolutely legitimate demands when they sought the resignation of state institution heads for the reason that these didn’t do their job. “Form a ‘success story’, Moldova turned into a great disappointment. The news about bad governance in Moldova made a tour of the world and significantly affected the country’s image. This will make the attraction of foreign investment during the next few years very difficult even if governance improves,” she stated.
Maia Sandu said she supports the protests because they are now the only serious method of exercising pressure on the political parties so as to make these improve governance. But the Platform should remain a civic organization that would exert pressure on the government when necessary, no matter who is in power.
The ex-minister considers the current government’s chances to regain people’s confidence are slim. “We see that when representatives of the current administration come up with good ideas, which does not happen often, the civil society members meet these with suspicion. Anyway, an important step that the authorities can take in this direction is to dismiss the persons whose resignation is sought by the people and to appoint new persons who will go through all the filters of civil society so as to be sure of their integrity and professionalism,” she stated.
