Despite the global sanitary restrictions, the political events in the Eastern Partnership countries and the increasingly assertive attitude of the Russian Federation in the region maintained EaP on the EU’s agenda. The Eastern Partnership Summit that was put off in 2020 due to the pandemic is to take place in autumn. The results of the snap parliamentary elections held in Moldova can align, with new significances, with the new long-term objectives and indicators of the Eastern Partnership countries, in accordance with the European Commission’s view on the development of EaP after 2020, which was published last March. Such opinions were formulated in an online event centering on the Eastern Partnership in a post-pandemic framework on July 20, IPN reports.
The participants in the event said the geopolitical element was less present in the recent election campaign, with socioeconomic subjects prevailing, such as the fight against corruption and eradication of poverty. This, according to Dan Iancu, director general of the Department for the Relationship with the Eastern Neighborhood of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, is a sign of maturation of the Moldovan voters amid the EU’s growing commitment. “I don‘t think we would have had today such a strong vote for change, for reforms without the developments of the last 10 or possibly 15 years: coming of the European Union’s border closer to the Republic of Moldova’s border together with Romania’s accession to the European Union, which brought changes for each citizen of the Republic of Moldova. This means a lot of things: abolition of visa requirements, signing of the Association Agreement with a very solid free trade component, business opportunities, increased mobility,” stated Dan Iancu.
With or without the geopolitical component, the Party of Acton and Solidarity achieved an excellent result not because it promised higher salaries and pensions, but because it aims to fight corruption, said the executive director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) of Moldova Iulian Groza. “This instability that continued for many years in the Republics of Moldova, made the citizens considerably tired. Simultaneously, the opportunity for the forces that have capacity and courage to do changes, starting with the cleaning of the system, to take over, made the people vote, even if some of them are not supporters of PAS,” said the IPRE director.
Angela Grămadă, head of the Bucharest-based NGO “Experts for Security and Global Affairs (ESGA), said that when the policies of ‘towing’ the Republic of Moldova out of the impasse are massively supported, the government’s efficiency can make the filing of an application for membership to the EU possible in several years. In another development, she pointed to the low level of political culture of some of the parties. “There were many political players without views as to how the Republic of Moldova should develop further and what national projects should be encouraged. The election campaign was very aggressive both online and offline. The electoral competitors made many accusations against each other and some of them even generated propaganda and misinformation, en masse I would say,” stated the ESGA head.
The event was staged by the Office in Bucharest of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Department of International Relations and European Integration (SNSPA) of Romania.
