The President of Moldova has nominated a possible contender to be Prime Minister of the country, US News and World Report reports. This nomination was announced late Thursday after massive protests in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau in response to the proposed nomination of a wealthy and seemingly-corrupt businessman and politician for the spot, a figure who was supported by the ruling political coalition in Moldova. This is only one chapter in the saga of a major political crisis that has plagued the poor, Eastern European country for well over a year now.
Moldova is situated East of Romania, a NATO member, and West of Ukraine, a country going through a crisis of its own. The Ukrainian Crisis, however, is much more well-known to the international community as compared to what is going on in Moldova. This stems from two factors: the first is that Ukraine has been forced to respond directly to Russian aggression, both through annexing part of its territory and supporting rebels that have seized territory of their own. So in a sense, while the story being printed by the international press is about Ukraine, it is first and foremost about Russia. Although talk about Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine is certain to garner attention, the current Ukrainian political crisis is likely to go largely unnoticed. As Russia is not playing a major role in Moldova, the situation here is ignored. The second reason is just that Ukraine is much bigger than Moldova. Ukraine has a population of about 44 million people, while Moldova has less than 4 million. However, despite originating from a small country, the Moldovan crisis is nevertheless important, as the nation’s shaky future depends upon its resolution.
Moldova’s recent troubles started in around November of 2014, when $1.5 billion went missing in three major national banks. For any major economy, this would certainly be a major scandal. For Moldova, the poorest country in Europe with a GDP comparable to many African countries, it was catastrophic. As a result of the theft, Moldova lost an estimated 1/8 of its economy. Last year, when the scandal was made public, Moldova’s currency, the leu, plummeted, and living standards in the country were threatened for many citizens. National uproar followed. Massive protests have been persistent in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau for many months now. Although the country had five different Prime Ministers over the course of 2015, (with an acting PM currently in office) Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti has remained in office throughout the crisis. The protesters have consistently called for his resignation, as well as a more thorough investigation of the scandal and a crackdown on the massive corruption in the country. At the same time, Moldova has been stuck with an interim government, as the fate of the Prime Minister is still uncertain.
This latest spurt of protesters is in response to the proposed nomination of Vlad Plahotniuc for Prime Minister, an influential politician with investments in oil, finance, banking, and media. Protesters claim that he is too corrupt and holds too much power to take on the position of PM. Plahotniuc was nominated by the ruling Alliance for European Integration coalition, a pro-European coalition that has been at odds with President Timofti since the crisis began. Although the Alliance pushes for European integration and stresses accession to the European Union as a major policy for the country, its behavior is rather un-European. Many accuse the coalition of just supporting European integration because it is popular with the public, and that they are really mainly indifferent to the idea as long as they are in power. Corruption in the coalition parties is widespread, just as it is in the rest of government.
In response to the protests and the nomination, Timofti rejected Plahotniuc as a potential contender for the Premiership, and instead nominated Ion Paduraru for the job. Paduraru is currently the general secretary of the President’s cabinet. The interim Moldovan Parliament is expected to vote on Paduraru soon, but if he is denied, Moldova is left with very few options. If Moldova is not able to form a government within the month, then snap elections will be called. With public dissatisfaction at an all-time high, the results of these potential elections are too difficult to predict. No matter what happens, the future of Moldova remains murky. Even if a new government is able to be formed and Paduraru becomes the next PM, it is up in the air how, let alone if, the government will soothe its outraged people and try to bring order back to Moldova.
Solutions to this crisis are unclear. Corruption is present nearly everywhere in the system, and it is hard to decide who to trust. However, some things should be a must: first off, a transparent, thorough investigation should be conducted into the stolen $1.5 billion. The fact that the government has not been nearly as transparent as it should have been since the disappearance only further seeds suspicion among the populace. Secondly, President Timofti must resign. He has failed to lead his country in one of the worst crises in Moldova since the Transnistrian War in the early 90s. He says that he cares about making government more transparent and ending corruption; if he wants to prove it, he will follow the wishes of his people and resign from the presidency. And third, the pro-European coalition should be disbanded. Although integration into Europe is a priority for Moldova, there are more urgent matters that require attention. Instead of running on broad platforms for future economic development within the EU, Moldovan parties should focus on how to solve immense poverty that the country faces now. Moldova is not even a candidate for EU Membership, and it likely will not be for a long time. The ruling coalition has only brought a bad name to Europeanism in the country, and thus threatens to bring Moldova into Russia’s orbit. If this occurs, then the already fragile democracy in Moldova could very well burst. It is already under enough strain as it is; this must not happen.
Sadly, due to the level of corruption in the government and power-hungriness of the Moldovan politicians, none of this is likely to happen. No matter what happens next, it seems that Moldova will be in for some hard times to come.
Newborn Republic 