By educating and involving civil society in the decision-making processes, the Republic of Moldova has the chance to develop and to be part of the large European community, doctor habilitate of history Valentin Constantinov stated in an interview with IPN News Agency. According to the historian, Moldovan society does not accept models of authoritarian politicians and the people’s decision to remove the Communist government in April 2009 is a confirmation of this.
Valentin Constantinov noted that the Republic of Moldova is yet dependent on the Russian Federation owing to the energy ties with Gazprom but society realizes that the coming closer to the European economic market and values ensures the country’s development.
“Our ties with Russia are perpetuated as we continue buying gas from this country. Are we ready to pay more for gas? Not yet! We haven’t yet realized that we started to live better in 2014, when we began to pay more for gas. It is a paradox but the further we are from Russia from economic viewpoint and the closer we come to the European values, the better we live,” stated Valentin Constantinov.
According to the historian, even if a part of Moldovan society is still nostalgic for the Soviet Union, the people do not accept authoritarian persons to govern them. The higher is the education level of society, the less are the dictatorial practices accepted in government.
“We must take part in elections. Society should propose political parties. We should not go and vote blindly for a party. If so, all those who deal with politics will listen to civil society. Civil society should give a roadmap to the politicians for these to implement it. Education is the antidote to executioners and dictators. In the Republic of Moldova, they tried to borrow models of politicians from outside. Traian Băseascu was a model. Vladimir Putin was another model. A politician can appear by the model of Victor Orban. But when Vladimir Voronin tried to arrogate to himself the post of father of the nation, April 9 came. The Moldovans are not attached to one person only. Our society is not lost irremediably,” stated the historian.
Valentin Constantinov is convinced that the future of the Republic of Moldova is alongside the European community and this can take place only with the plenary contribution of society.
“We are nostalgic for the Soviet times because this idea was imbedded in our minds and because we had the very difficult period of the 1990s. We survived and now started to develop step by step. It does not mean that everything is fine. There are monopoles, there are imposed prices, there are schemes by which some enrich themselves overnight. But by education, protests, political parties, we will definitely succeed,” said the historian.
The interview entitled “Where does nostalgia for dictator and autocratic leaders of the USSR come from and what effects does it produce?” was held by IPN News Agency in the framework of the project “100 years of USSR and 31 years without USSR: Nostalgia for Chimeras” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
