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| Dionis Cenuşa | |
It’s been more than a year since Moldova started to implement the Association Agreement with the EU. Meanwhile, there was witnessed progress, but also failures whose proportion and effects continue to affect the country and these aspects were highlighted in the publication Euromonitor. In the main, the crisis in the banking system, the delay in reforming the justice sector or the inefficient fight against corruption powerfully and unjustly compromised the European integration process. Consequently, the anti-European rhetoric gained a breath of fresh air, while the Russian propaganda – a new maneuvering space for discrediting the presence of the EU in Moldova.
It is very important to realize that the European integration or the rapprochement with the EU in many respects continues to be specious. That’s why the perception that the negative situation in the country is the result of the European integration is erroneous and unjust. Actually, if we really had followed the path to the EU, the crisis in the banking sector wouldn’t have happened, the judicial system would have been comprehensively reformed and the fight against corruption would have stopped being an unfulfilled dream. These reasons should be taken into account if we want to objectively assess the European integration process.
It is evident that there are many factors that distort the European agenda, but the quality of the political elite, system corruption and the spirit of the European agenda are the most important ones.
Pseudo-pro-European political elite
The European integration was and remains parasitized and exploited by the political class, which is mainly corrupt and unwilling to ‘Europeanize’ the country. But the reforms implemented until the end, which are stipulated in Association Agreement with the EU, can generate imminent risks to the comfort of those who populate the current political arena. In other words, corruption fighting, dismemberment of monopolies in economy and strengthening of democracy would mean first of all the ‘political disappearance’ of the pseudo-pro-Europeans. That’s why these insist on a superficial European agenda that is adjusted to the own interests and fears.
All-embracing corruption
No reforms are possible if the public institutions and functionaries are involved in acts of corruption. Surely, identifying and punishing the corrupt elements are the duties of the National Anticorruption Center, the National Integrity Commission, the prosecution service and the courts of law. However, for these to be functional, an anti-corruption ‘shock therapy’ is needed that would combine de-politicization, internal strengthening and their clearing of all the persons with dubious integrity. The same ‘shock therapy’ principle should be applied in all the state institutions, agencies and enterprises, at central and local levels. Without the efficient combating of political and daily corruption, it is impossible to free the state from the captivity of the narrow group interests. Ultimately, the failure in combating corruption casts doubt on the durability of the European integration.
Spirit of European agenda
It already became a tradition for Moldova to be praised for good laws and to be vehemently criticized for the defective implementation of laws. The same applies to the national legislation that was adjusted to the European one. This is due to the marked ignoring of the spirit of the law. As, why the Broadcasting Coordination Council, having the legitimate intention to ensure the pluralism of opinion, closes a TV channel that is in opposition to the government, but does not touch the mass media controlled by the parties of the same government? The fact that some of the companies are monitored by the Competition Council, while others are not is also suspicious. Such examples, which exist in other areas too, reveal the selective approach adopted in relation to institutions that follow not the spirit of the law, but rather an agenda imposed from outside. This nihilism towards the spirit of the European agenda seriously affects the positive impact of reforms.
Instead of conclusion
The poor quality of the pseudo-pro-European parties, resistance to corruption fighting and nihilism towards the spirit of the reforms from the European agenda paralyze the European integration process. Consequently, the provisions of the Association Agreement, which should benefit the people, the businesses and the state, do not produce the expected results.
IPN publishes in the Op-Ed rubric opinion pieces submitted by authors not affiliated with our editorial board. The opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily coincide with the opinions of our editorial board.