The Republic of Moldova in Europe

The Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population) is the country which has made the biggest democratic progress out of all the eastern partners of the European Union - writes a resolution initiated by Romanian MEP Monica Macovei and endorsed by all political groups in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Starting with the EPP group, of rightist orientation, to the Greens, of leftist orientation, the MEPs have hailed the reforms carried out by interim President, Liberal Mihai Ghimpu and Liberal Democrat PM Vlad Filat this past year. These reforms were meant to help Moldova get over the trauma of the pro-Russian communist government, which ruled between 2001 and 2009.

For this reason, Macovei believes the candidacy of the Republic of Moldova should be analyzed individually, and not as part of a larger group of former Soviet or Balkan countries, clamoring for EU accession. Additionally, she calls on EC experts to urgently draft an action plan for the Moldovans to travel freely in the EU. In recent times, the Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fulle, has voiced the Commission’s decision to unblock 40 million Euros for macro-economic support to Chishinau, which has already received 37 million Euros.

The Moldovan communist rulers left in their wake the poorest European state, and now the Republic of Moldova is in urgent need of financial assistance. The list of donors so far includes the IMF, the United States and neighboring Romania, all of them expressing readiness to help the Moldovan authorities go ahead with their reforms. However, the situation is still volatile, at a political level.

Ahead of the early parliamentary elections of November the 28th, the communists are still the most popular party among an electorate still nostalgic about their Soviet past. Furthermore, President Ghimpu has told the Romanian daily paper ADEVARUL that “Russia does not want the Republic of Moldova in the western space”.

That is why, Ghimpu believes, the most important thing that the Republic of Moldova should do is maintain a government made up of the Westward-leaning four-party Alliance, all the more so as it has improved Moldova’s relations with the EU and brought them to an unprecedentedly high level.

Himself a leader of one of the parties making up the pro-western Alliance, Ghimpu admits that ahead of the elections, the parties have entered a race, where the individual hunt for votes gains precedence over the solidity of the coalition. However, he hopes that after the election, the pro-westerners will again join ranks. Otherwise, once the communists return to power, “there will be no dialogue with either Bucharest or Brussels” and Chishinau will again wage a “cold war” with the West - the daily Adevarul quotes Moldovan president Mihai Ghimpu as saying.

(Radio România Internaţional, Serviciul în limba engleză).