The requirements imposed by the European Union on Moldova affect the undeclared agenda of the Moldovan political elite, jurist Ștefan Gligor, the standing expert of IPN’s project, stated in a public debate entitled “Why did conditions for receiving EU macro-financial assistance become an apple of discord?”, which was held by IPN Agency.
According to him, the involvement in politics in Moldova is a source of income for the majority. “No one sincerely believes that our state officials competed in elections only for the sake of symbolic salaries. This means that there is an unofficial, undeclared agenda in our state. There is an official agenda proposed to our citizens and an unofficial agenda that is real and genuine. It goes to profits, to business. For the business to work, they need corrupt institutions – Ministry of Home Affairs, customs service and border guards, courts of law, superior councils of magistracy and prosecutors that can be subject to political pressure,” stated Ștefan Gligor.
He is sure that there is a discrepancy between the interests of the ordinary citizens and the interests of the political elite. “There is a big difference in interests and when the EU asks for real reforms, this runs counter to the interests of the political elite as they will be unable to collect as much as they used to. When the prosecutors, judges, radio-television and competition councils are independent, the corruption maneuvering space will become considerably narrower,” noted the expert.
Ștefan Gligor underlined that the EU’s policy is aimed at building independent institutions that are responsible for the management of its resources, where the maneuvering possibility for acts of corruption on the part of politicians is limited. “Here is the essence of the divergence between the EU requirements and the Moldovan political elite, even if the EU waits only for clear and understood things from us,” he stated.
The public debate “Why did conditions for receiving EU macro-financial assistance become an apple of discord?” was held in the framework of the project “Overcoming stereotypes of European integration through communication” that is implemented by IPN with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
