The political crisis cannot be solved in the context of the pandemic crisis. It must be dealt with separately. In times of a pandemic, there are many things that should be solved immediately and that are not related to the pandemic, elections, the government or something else, Vadim Pistrinciuc, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives and Policies, stated in IPN’s public debate “State of emergency: for and against, health, economic and political aspects”.
Vadim Pistrinciuc considers it is not appropriate to use the pandemic for the purpose of political blackmailing. Politics should be avoided when taking decisions as to the purchase of vaccines and we should accept vaccines from all those who offer them to us. The political class can discuss political subjects later or in parallel, but not interdependently. For example, one cannot say that the state of emergency will be declared if a new government is voted in. This is not right and people’s lives cannot be negotiated.
According to Vadim Pistrinciuc, those who said that they will not support the lockdown could have hurried to make such an assertion given that the number of cases of COVID-19 rises daily. Vaccination is necessary and the developed European states immunize even under a lockdown.
He noted the subject of the pandemic is politicized in Moldova and elsewhere and there are things that should be done now, beyond statements. “Not many countries reached unity, collective wisdom not to use the subject of the pandemic as a political debate issue. In the European countries too, there are persons, parties that oppose the sanitary measures, protests, elections where the pandemic management subject had a devastating effect, including in the case of those with populist messages in this regard.”
The executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives and Policies said the decision as to the declaring of the state of emergency should be discussed by Parliament in a public sitting so that the figures presented by experts and the economic losses are known. The political struggle should take place in Parliament. More sittings on this issue should be held as there is now a kind of fear of taking this issue to Parliament.
In another development, Vadim Pistrinciuc said the “nocturnal” laws adopted on December 1, 2020 seriously affected the relationship with the financial institutions and Moldova’s donors. “If the intention is to solve the political crisis in Moldova, they should say it clearly what’s it all about those laws. There is emergency financing that can be unlocked if Parliament adopts or repeals particular laws.”
The public debate titled “State of emergency: for and against, health, economic and political aspects” is the 178th installment of the project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is implemented by IPN with the assistance of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
