“All the parties in Moldova stipulate the European integration as one of the main directions of political activity in their programs, but it is the process of geopolitical changes that counts. The union with Romania is also presented as European integration,” Sergey Manastîrlî, director of the Center for Analyses, Research and Forecasts “Balkan Centre”, stated in a public debate titled “European integration during the pandemic: new opportunities or stagnation?” that was held at IPN.

“The politicians only speak about the European integration as it is easier this way to cheat the voters in elections. It is much harder to promote the changes required by the European integration and the Eastern Partnership as unpopular decisions are often needed here. The politicians in our country live from elections to elections, which are held rather often. They sometimes alternate with snap elections. This way the politicians have to sing the tune and to say what the voters want to hear, not what they should do to really improve the situation,” stated the expert.

According to him, the EU understands the processes taking place in Moldovan politics and dissentions even appear between Moldova’s foreign partners over this. For example, there is now a confrontation between Brussels and Washington in particular spheres of influence and polemics also appear behind the scenes as to how some of the political parties should act at the presidential elections of this yearend,” stated Sergey Manastîrlî.

The public debate “European integration during the pandemic: new opportunities or stagnation?” was staged in the framework of the project “Overcoming stereotypes of European integration by communication” that is implemented by IPN with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.