Nicolae Tau: “After 17 years of independence, Moldova became an underdeveloped state”

After 17 years of independence, Moldova became an underdeveloped state with about 21% of the population living in extreme poverty, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, ex-Ambassador of Moldova to the United States and former deputy of the USSR Supreme Soviet during the years of national revival, Nicolae Tau has told Info-Prim Neo. According to Nicolae Tau, Moldova did not accomplish much during the years of independence. This is confirmed by the World Bank data, according to which last year Moldova was the 97th out of 131 countries by the Global Competitiveness Index, the 133rd out of 190 countries with a nominal GDP of 4.396 billion dollars, the 117th out of 190 countries with 2,560 dollars in the GDP per capita. The Poverty Rate Index showed that 20.8% of the population earned less than 2 dollars a day (18-19 lei). Nicolae Tau said that Moldova’s biggest failure in these 17 years of independence was the fact that the country did not manage to get rid of Russia’s influence. Among the consequences of this dependence are the inconsistency in the EU integration policy, incapacity to use the favorable geographic position between two large markets – the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States. As to Moldova’s independence, the degree to which it is independent was revealed by the ban imposed by Russia on Moldovan wine imports in 2006 and by the talks over the import price of the energy resources. Speaking about the causes that led to such a situation, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs said that mistakes have been made every day and the delay in implementing democratic reforms in the European spirit in such areas as promotion of economic reforms, independence of the judiciary, prevention and combating of corruption, the electoral process, the freedom of expression, the pluralism and independence of the mass media, the free access to objective, varied and unbiased information proves this. Nicolae Tau thinks that if a professional team comes to power, Moldova could catch up with a country with a decent standard of living in 15 years. “The economic history shows that such accomplishments are possible. We should believe in a Moldovan economic miracle,” the quoted source said. According to Nicoale Tau, the major aim of the Independence must be Moldova’s integration into the EU. The largest part of the existent problems will be thus solved. If offered the chance to live once again that period of national revival, the former Foreign Minister would do the same things he did then. [Info-Prim Neo note:] The Russian press in 1993 reported: “Moldova’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolae Tau has recently said: “Moldova is an independent and sovereign country. Foreign military troops are present on its territory without reason." The Russian press compared these statements with “the similar objections of the Baltic States”.