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Andrian Candu in the US: “5 methods” that Russia uses to destabilize the situation in Moldova

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The Russian Federation is systematically involved in the internal affairs of Moldova and Ukraine, and in order to destabilize the situation, it resorts to cyber attacks, as well as providing financial support to our proletarian parties. A statement in this regard was made by Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu on a televised show during his working visit in the US.

According to Candu, Moscow’s involvement in the internal affairs of Moldova and Ukraine is increasingly evident, especially since the elections will take place in the two countries early next year.

“One of Russia’s weapons is the media. Through mass media, Moscow is doing propaganda. Another method used is Moldova’s dependency on Russian gas. Moscow is also involved in the region that is not controlled by the Government of Chisinau. I mean to the Transnistrian region, a busy territory where Russian troops are stationed,” the Chisinau official declared.

The President of Parliament believes that in order to meet these challenges, Russia needs unity. “R. Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia have to join forces and work together against these challenges. Equally important is the support that these three countries have from the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance,” said Candu on the show.

The official added that the US should remain as involved in the region as possible.

“If we are to talk about the support we are expecting from the US, we want to create a new energy infrastructure and find solutions to deal with hybrid threats,” said Candu spoke.

Reminder: Andrian Candu is on a working visit to the US and, within it, which will last until December 8, the Chisinau official will meet with senators and congressmen and will offer a series of interviews in the US press.

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FC Sheriff Tiraspol victory: can national pride go hand in hand with political separatism?

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A new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred in the headlines of worldwide football news yesterday. The Football Club Sheriff Tiraspol claimed a win with the score 2-1 against Real Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. That made Sheriff Tiraspol the leader in Group D of the Champions League, including the football club in the groups of the most important European interclub competition for the first time ever.

International media outlets called it a miracle, a shock and a historic event, while strongly emphasizing the origin of the team and the existing political conflict between the two banks of the Dniester. “Football club from a pro-Russian separatist enclave in Moldova pulls off one of the greatest upsets in Champions League history,” claimed the news portals. “Sheriff crushed Real!” they said.

Moldovans made a big fuss out of it on social media, splitting into two groups: those who praised the team and the Republic of Moldova for making history and those who declared that the football club and their merits belong to Transnistria – a problematic breakaway region that claims to be a separate country.

Both groups are right and not right at the same time, as there is a bunch of ethical, political, social and practical matters that need to be considered.

Is it Moldova?

First of all, every Moldovan either from the right or left bank of Dniester (Transnistria) is free to identify himself with this achievement or not to do so, said Vitalie Spranceana, a sociologist, blogger, journalist and urban activist. According to him, boycotting the football club for being a separatist team is wrong.

At the same time, “it’s an illusion to think that territory matters when it comes to football clubs,” Spranceana claimed. “Big teams, the ones included in the Champions League, have long lost their connection both with the countries in which they operate, and with the cities in which they appeared and to which they linked their history. […] In the age of globalized commercial football, teams, including the so-called local ones, are nothing more than global traveling commercial circuses, incidentally linked to cities, but more closely linked to all sorts of dirty, semi-dirty and cleaner cash flows.”

What is more important in this case is the consistency, not so much of citizens, as of politicians from the government who have “no right to celebrate the success of separatism,” as they represent “the national interests, not the personal or collective pleasures of certain segments of the population,” believes the political expert Dionis Cenusa. The victory of FC Sheriff encourages Transnistrian separatism, which receives validation now, he also stated.

“I don’t know how it happens that the “proud Moldovans who chose democracy”, in their enthusiasm for Sheriff Tiraspol’s victory over Real Madrid, forget the need for total and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria!” declared the journalist Vitalie Ciobanu.

Nowadays, FC Sheriff Tiraspol has no other choice than to represent Moldova internationally. For many years, the team used the Moldovan Football Federation in order to be able to participate in championships, including international ones. That is because the region remains unrecognised by the international community. However, the club’s victory is presented as that of Transnistria within the region, without any reference to the Republic of Moldova, its separatist character being applied in this case especially.

Is it a victory?

In fact, FC Sheriff Tiraspol joining the Champions League is a huge image breakthrough for the Transnistrian region, as the journalist Madalin Necsutu claimed. It is the success of the Tiraspol Club oligarchic patrons. From the practical point of view, FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a sports entity that serves its own interests and the interests of its owners, being dependent on the money invested by Tiraspol (but not only) oligarchs.

Here comes the real dilemma: the Transnistrian team, which is generously funded by money received from corruption schemes and money laundering, is waging an unequal fight with the rest of the Moldovan football clubs, the journalist also declared. The Tiraspol team is about to raise 15.6 million euro for reaching the Champions League groups and the amounts increase depending on their future performance. According to Necsutu, these money will go directly on the account of the club, not to the Moldovan Football Federation, creating an even bigger gab between FC Sheriff and other football clubs from Moldova who have much more modest financial possibilities.

“I do not see anything useful for Moldovan football, not a single Moldovan player is part of FC Sheriff Tiraspol. I do not see anything beneficial for the Moldovan Football Federation or any national team.”

Is it only about football?

FC Sheriff Tiraspol, with a total estimated value of 12.8 million euros, is controlled by Victor Gusan and Ilya Kazmala, being part of Sheriff Holding – a company that controls the trade of wholesale, retail food, fuels and medicine by having monopolies on these markets in Transnistria. The holding carries out car trading activities, but also operates in the field of construction and real estate. Gusan’s people also hold all of the main leadership offices in the breakaway region, from Parliament to the Prime Minister’s seat or the Presidency.

The football club is supported by a holding alleged of smuggling, corruption, money laundering and organised crime. Moldovan media outlets published investigations about the signals regarding the Sheriff’s holding involvement in the vote mobilization and remuneration of citizens on the left bank of the Dniester who participated in the snap parliamentary elections this summer and who were eager to vote for the pro-Russian socialist-communist bloc.

Considering the above, there is a great probability that the Republic of Moldova will still be represented by a football club that is not identified as being Moldovan, being funded from obscure money, growing in power and promoting the Transnistrian conflict in the future as well.

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Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita meets high-ranking EU officials in Brussels

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Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, pay an official visit to Brussels, between September 27-28, being invited by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.

Today, Prime Minister had a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The Moldovan PM thanked the senior European official for the support of the institution in strengthening democratic processes, reforming the judiciary and state institutions, economic recovery and job creation, as well as increasing citizens’ welfare. Natalia Gavrilita expressed her confidence that the current visit laid the foundations for boosting relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, so that, in the next period, it would be possible to advance high-level dialogues on security, justice and energy. Officials also exchanged views on priorities for the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in December.

“The EU is open to continue to support the Republic of Moldova and the ambitious reform agenda it proposes. Moldova is an important and priority partner for us,” said Charles Michel.

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita also met with Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, expressing her gratitude for the support received through the OMNIBUS macro-financial assistance program. The two officials discussed the need to advance the recovery of money from bank fraud, to strengthen sustainable mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, and to standardize the customs and taxes as one of the main conditions for deepening cooperation with the EU in this field.

Additionally, Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the Deep Free Trade Agreement, noting that the Government’s policies are aimed at developing an economic model aligned with the European economic model, focused on digitalization, energy efficiency and the green economy.

A common press release of the Moldovan Prime Minister with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, took place today, where the agenda of Moldova’s reforms and the main priorities to focus on in the coming months were presented: judiciary reform; fighting COVID-19 pandemic; promoting economic recovery and conditions for growth and job creation; strengthening state institutions and resilience of the country.

“I am here to relaunch the dialogue between my country and the European Union. Our partnership is strong, but I believe there is room for even deeper cooperation and stronger political, economic and sectoral ties. I am convinced that this partnership is the key to the prosperity of our country and I hope that we will continue to strengthen cooperation.”

The Moldovan delegation met Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. Tomorrow, there are scheduled common meetings with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport and Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.

Prime Minister will also attend a public event, along with Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

Photo: gov.md

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Economic expert: Moldova has too many bureaucrats, that incurring additional unnecessary costs

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The number of government officials working at various control agencies has increased by 3.5 thousand people from 51.2 thousand in 2011 to 54.8 thousand today. That is while the country’s population has decreased by 343 thousand inhabitants, from 2.93 million in 2011 to 2.6 million in 2021, as being mentioned in an analysis published by the economic expert Veaceslav Ionita.

10 years ago, there was an average of 17.6 bureaucrats per one thousand inhabitants. This figure has increased by over 20%, meaning that today we already have 21.4 bureaucrats per one thousand inhabitants. According to the expert, the number of government bureaucrats in charge of public services is unbalanced when compared to the number of people who would request such public services. “If we keep the rate from 2011, then we would have to reduce the number of bureaucrats by 10 thousand people.”

Nowadays, the costs for a single employee of the bureaucratic system reach 200 thousand lei, including the payments related to salary, bonuses, social expenses, as well as office space and other labor costs. “The maintenance costs of this additional and unnecessary number of bureaucrats amount to at least 2 billion lei annually,” the expert claimed.

The number of government control agencies was reduced from 68 to 19, as being displayed on the official page of the national public services portal. “The number of control institutions were reduced, but not the number of bureaucrats in charge of controls. In the last 4 years alone, the number of permissive acts in Moldova has decreased 3 times. Thousands of people were dealing with unnecessary and harmful activity by offering permits for certain types of activity. Their activity proved to be useless and, consequently, was ended. But the bureaucrats stayed in offices, even though their previous positions were removed. Obviously, all the thousands of people, who have lost the right to control or allow something, started to look for new solutions to ‘milk’ the money  from businesses.”

The expert says that the damage caused by the unnecessary activity of such officials amounts to tens of billions lei each year in the form of lack of investment in Moldova, people emigration, shutting down companies due to corruption, exaggerated prices due to monopolies protected by bureaucrats and other costs borne by the society.

It is still not clear why Moldova would need a National Agency for the Regulation of Nuclear and Radiological Activities, given that there are no nuclear power plants on the territory of the country and given that there is already a National Agency for Energy Regulation. Also, there are 3 agencies in charge of land recording and cadastral maps creation in the Republic of Moldova. The economic expert believes that some control agencies could be merged in a single market regulation agency and that would be a way to optimize public expenditures.

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