Press-release
on the organization of the debate “The need for communication and change. Virtual dialogue between civil society and government on the odds of the demands submitted by the Civic Forum”, the 50th installment of the “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” Series
Public debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”
Debate 50 brought together Arcadie Barbăroşie, executive director of the Public Policy Institute and Igor Boţan, executive director of ADEPT and the Project's standing expert.
A third speaker was also invited with the intention to create conditions for a genuine debate on enhanced communication with the Government as requested by the Civic Forum, but Mr. Andrian Candu, the Speaker of Parliament, turned down the invitation citing a busy agenda. While Mr. Candu said he personally or another government representative might join such a debate at an indefinite later date, we thought this subject could not be postponed, especially in light of a particular sentence contained in the Second Civic Forum's Resolution, issued on 29 January 2016: “If [the demands are] left unmet, the sovereign people reserves itself the right to […] revolt against tyranny and oppression ”.
The government has been given 30 days to comply, and since almost a half of the term has passed, there is a force majeure situation hanging over us, and thus the issue could not be postponed.
The same force majeure situation has forced us to adopt a debate format that we've never used since the Project started five years ago. Mr. Barbăroşie and especially Mr. Boţan, as the Project's standing expert, agreed to explain the actions or inaction of the government in response to the Civic Forum's demands.
This virtual dialogue with the government was also in line with the instructive component of the Project that seeks to help 'the man in the street' understand the positions of all the political actors so as to enhance his political culture and prepare him for more conscious decisions.
During the debate, the speakers noted that nothing has been done to set up the dialogue group requested by the Civic Forum's Resolution of January 29.
According to the expert Arcadie Barbarosie, the government knew beforehand the demands of protesters and civil society and nonetheless took no step and had no reaction. “Today it is 11 days since we put forward the demands and several simple steps could have been taken to try and establish a dialogue with representatives of the Civic Forum. It’s true that the Prime Minister asked for a meeting with civil society, but underlined that he does not represent the whole government. He said that he can discuss only the issues pertaining to the executive,” stated Arcadie Barbarosie.
The expert noted that one of the demands was yet fulfilled – the package of laws on integrity was adopted. “The colleagues who monitored that document said that it generally coincides with what the participants in the forum asked. The document is identical with the proposal presented by the Government of Chiril Gaburici, which was then rejected,” he said.
According to the executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) Igor Botan, who is the standing expert of IPN’s project, the Forum’s demands can be also found on the list of conditions imposed by the Government of Romania. “These conditions with serious accents will also be present in the European Union’s Resolution on Moldova of February 15. We tell the rulers: “You made us faint, but the echo of our resolutions will be found in the EU’s conditions. You cannot go on beyond the EU as the European Union has in its hands what is called the financing instrument of the Association Agreement,” he said.
He stated that the government is yet forced to take some steps. “Head of Parliament Andrian Candu had to announce that a new contest to choose the governor of the National Bank of Moldova will be chosen after the first contest staged last yearend failed. So, the conditions put forward by the colleagues from the Association “Expert-Grup” were accepted by Andrian Candu after the given message came from the international financial institutions,” said Igor Botan, noting that the development partners know very well what’s going on in Moldova.
The speakers said that they would be satisfied if the government that seems to be ignoring the demands of the Civic Forum fulfilled the provisions of the Association Agreement with the EU, which include the demands presented by civil society to the authorities.
The Agency published 4 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 15.02.16, “Government hesitates to accept invitation to dialogue to discuss demands formulated by Civic Forum, IPN debate” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/74788; on 16.02.16, “Civic Forum lent a hand to government, IPN debate” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/74794; “IPN debate: If government satisfies demands, it will diminish its influence” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/74795; “Arcadie Barbarosie: Ruling class does not represent voters’ wish of 2014” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/74805.
Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN