This translation concludes for now our series of articles about the Moldavian/Romanian conundrum, taking a look at the newest history of and the state of affairs in Moldavia. The article appeared on August 28, 2024 in the “Rythm of Eurazia” Dzen blog, written by Ilya Kiselyov.
Moldova – the sad results of 33 years of independence
Drawing by A. Gorbarukov
Every year in August, a kind of “independence parade” takes place in the post–Soviet space – states that have been formed for more than 30 years celebrate the dates of their declaration of independence. At the same time, for some reason, all these dates are given a festive character, although not all of the post-Soviet countries have been able to demonstrate progress in their development over the past years, and a number of them can be safely described as in a state of decline and even degradation.
It is noteworthy that the latter primarily include those post-Soviet states that have chosen the Western direction in their geopolitical orientation. These countries lost their independence, which they gained in 1991, joining the EU and NATO like the Baltic republics. As a result, they had to pay for this not only by obeying the decisions that are made outside of their the countries, in Brussels, but also by actually abandoning their own economy, inherited from the USSR.
Similar processes are taking place in those post-Soviet states that have not yet “earned” the right to join the EU, but whose authorities are very eager to do so. One of these post-Soviet states is the small Republic of Moldova, which celebrates Independence Day on August 27. Its current authorities, led by President Maia Sandu, are doing everything to drag their country into the EU.
The active stage of renunciation of sovereignty in Moldova began in 2009, when a coalition of pro-Western parties came to power in the republic, proclaiming a course towards “European integration” and joining the EU. Today, this process is being promoted by the head of state, as well as the PAS party as the parliamentary majority forming the government of the country. At the same time, blasphemously, “independent” Moldova is governed by people who have in their pocket a passport from neighbouring Romania. It’s hard to believe, but these includes absolutely all the top officials of the country: the president, the Prime Minister and members of the government, the Speaker and members of Parliament, the head of the Constitutional Court, most other judges, employees of ministries, law enforcement agencies and special services.
But that’s not all – apparently, having Romanian citizenship is not enough to fully trust the ruling authorities in Moldova, and therefore today in every government department, up to the presidential administration, there are Western advisers in full-time positions without whom no important decision is made, and who receive huge salaries from the state budget.
An excellent example of how the Moldovan authorities make decisions is the case that occurred last year, when the world-famous Serbian composer and musician Goran Bregovic and his orchestra, who were supposed to perform at the Old Orhei ethnofestival, were banned from entering the Republic of Moldova. The reasons for the incident, announced by Moldovan officials, turned out to be very revealing. It turns out that the musical group was not allowed into the country “after consultations with Western partners” – it turns out that they are the ones who make decisions even on such issues.
In general, it should be noted that the process of Moldova’s so-called “European integration” turned out, as it should, to have an outright anti-Russian “flavour” – under the Sandu regime, in a short period of time, Moldova defiantly withdrew from more than 30 agreements concluded within the CIS, deported 70% of the Russian embassy staff from the country, imposed anti-Russian sanctions and repeatedly she made a scandal of herself with the denial of entry not only to various public and political figures, but also to journalists and even pop artists.
Another point that distinguishes Moldova from a number of other post–Soviet states is the Transnistrian conflict, which actually began before the collapse of the USSR. Initiated by nationalist circles, this conflict turned into an armed phase literally in the first year of Moldovan independence. Only the intervention of the Russian army stationed in Transnistria stopped this, in fact, fratricidal war. Unfortunately, for more than 30 years, Moldova has not been able, or rather, to be honest, has not wanted to find a political solution to this conflict that would establish a final peace on the Dniester, supported today by the efforts of Russian peacekeepers.
There were opportunities for this, but in 2003, President Vladimir Voronin, at the last moment, under pressure from Western diplomats, refused to sign a document known as the Kozak Memorandum, and this, in fact, became the biggest mistake of the Moldovan leadership. A mistake that had tragic consequences for the country, including in terms of the independence of decision-making by the Moldovan leadership.
Today, Moldova has a real pro-Western puppet government that fully fulfils all the whims of the so-called “development partners”. Moldovan officials of all ranks are readily assisted by numerous foreign advisers, who can be safely called the shadow government of the country. The state of Moldova is literally being fed by the EU and the USA. At the same time, the authorities propose to the population, in a referendum to be held on the same day as the presidential elections, to approve amendments to the country’s Constitution, according to which all future EU decisions will be above the Basic Law.
Moldova, which declared independence 33 years ago, can now be safely called a colony of the European Union. After the conclusion of the Association agreement with the EU in 2014, the country’s market turned out to be open to Western goods for which customs duties were cancelled. Moldovan producers were unable to compete with agricultural products from the European Union, and the Russian market was closed to them. At the same time, the EU has already taken everything most valuable from Moldova – more than a million of the most active, able-bodied population, primarily young people, who emigrated in search of work and today create values in the European Union.
Pro-Western politicians in Moldova promise the population a “good life” and “good times” after joining the EU. However, who in the country does not yet know that the current government has already arranged good times for itself today. At the same time, the number of people who found themselves in the group of absolutely poverty has only grown during Sandu’s rule. At certain points, inflation in Moldova reached 36% and was the highest on the continent. Gas tariffs were also the highest, despite the fact that residents of Moldova in Europe are at the very end of the list in terms of their incomes. During the period of Sandu’s rule alone, without seeing any positive changes, more than 200 thousand people left the country. The PAS government has doubled the level of public debt and now, in order to pay off loans, it is getting into new debts without having a strategy for their repayment and development. Exports of products are constantly falling, and investors are leaving the country.
Judicial reforms, which were one of the main points of Sandu’s election program, were accompanied by gross violations of the law. It is enough to recall at least the arrest and dismissal of Prosecutor General Alexander Stoyanoglo, which was not motivated by anything from a legal point of view. In fact, the seizure of the state and the use of its legal system in the fight against political opponents, which began in the days of the oligarch V. Plahotniuc, continues in the country.
Also, contrary to the promises of Sandu and PAS, corruption and crime have increased significantly in the country during their rule. And this information is not from the opposition, but from the National Anti-Corruption Center, which officially published data that in the first 6 months of 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Commission revealed a 38% increase in corruption crimes compared to those registered in the same period last year.
And in general, how can the terms “achievements” and “reforms” be used when representatives of the government, the president, the prime minister and the speaker of Parliament have the highest anti-ratings among politicians?
Nevertheless, the current government continues to enjoy the support of the West. Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid an official visit to Chisinau as part of creating a picture of Moldova’s successful “European integration” before the elections. Maia Sandu’s face shone and radiated smiles into the surrounding space. Prime Minister Vlad Filat had exactly the same radiant face when Angela Merkel visited Chisinau in 2012. But a year after that, Filat’s government was dismissed for corruption.
By the way, Maia Sandu was also a member of that corrupt cabinet. It’s not that the West has not learned lessons from its policy of patronising Moldovan corrupt officials, it just has different priorities: for Western leaders, the willingness of corrupt officials leading an “independent” Moldova to comply with their directives and lead the country to confrontation with Russia comes first.
These are the sad results of the 33-year independence of the Republic of Moldova.
Ilya KISELYOV