The views of the citizens of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia on the domestic political phenomena had a different reflection on the sympathies with the EU, political pundit Dionis Cenușa noted in a feature article for IPN Agency.
He underlines three important paradoxes that explain best the unpredictability of public opinion in the three countries.
The first paradox resides in the fact that the citizens in Moldova and those in Georgia differently connect the domestic policy to the foreign one. This way, amid the crisis in the banking and political systems (October 2015-Sepetmber 2016), the Moldovan citizens gave the poorest grades to the direction in which the country goes – 79-82%.
Dionis Cenușa considers the same negativism expanded to the attitude about the EU membership, which, for the first time, dropped below the level of the pro-Eurasian views. The latter varied between 42% and 45%, which is by 7% above the pro-EU orientation registered in October 2015.
A drastic change in the opinion of the Georgians about the government in February 2015 had practically no impact on Georgians’ sympathies with the EU. The stability of the pro-European sympathies showed by Georgians is due to the weakness of the pro-Russian political forces that in Moldova’s case control the presidential institution (Igor Dodon) and could become the largest political party after the elections of February 2019. Also, the pro-Russian sympathies and, respectively, the Eurosceptical antipathies can easier penetrate the Moldovan media space than the Georgian one.
Another paradox is related to the combination of a robust pro-European course with the predisposition to maintain pragmatic relations with Russia. Georgia exemplifies a contradictory situation were the population’s will to join the EU is as advanced as the wish to improve the dialogue with Russia.
On the one hand, this shows that the relationship with the EU does not exclude the openness to Russia. On the other hand, Georgia, as Ukraine, recently experienced the Russian aggression that resulted in the definite rupture of the separatist territories, explains Dionis Cenușa.
He noted the conciliatory approach followed by the government headed by Bidzina Ivanishvili starting with 2012 and, respectively, the controversial position of the new President Salome Zurabisvhili on Russia could maintain a double, contradictory perception of Russia – of aggressor and of potential pragmatic partner.
The differentiated impact of the EU support on public opinion is the last paradox mentioned by the expert. This time the Georgians’ position on the EU is again more solid than in the case of the Ukrainians.
Even if the latter receive constant support on the part of the European institutions, their Euro-optimism is more reluctant than in Georgia, commented Dionis Cenușa.
