Politics
“The crab, the pike and the frog” – a fable about the Moldovan politics
The crab, the pike and the frog is a fable written by Alecu Donici, a Moldovan poet, fabulist and translator. It tells the story of the 3 mentioned characters who tried to carry together a bag full of wheat in the lake. Because none of them didn’t cooperate, as they are different by nature – the pike swims, the frog jumps and the crab walks sideways, they never managed to do the work together.
Why am I telling you this story and what is the link to what happens today on the Moldovan political stage? Well, the story seems to be fully replicated to the political reality of Moldova. For several weeks, all 3 political entities that entered the Parliament, having the highest number of seats – the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), the Democratic Party of Moldova (DPM) and the political bloc ACUM, have been ‘investigating the field’, while bringing new and new conditions to the ‘not held negotiations’ (as they declare, there were discussions only).
These days, the political bloc ACUM came up with new draft laws within the pale of their discussions with the PSRM. First, they proposed the creation of a working group consisting of representatives of both factions, delegated to discuss by April 25th the initiatives regarding the de-oligarchization of the Republic of Moldova and the improvement of quality of life for the Moldovan citizens. ACUM came up with 5 new draft laws related to the General Prosecutor’s Office, the National Bank of Moldova, the Electoral Code and the citizenship by investment law, according to the declarations made during a press conference held by the political bloc ACUM.
Thus, the leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party (DTPP) and one of the ACUM’s leaders, Andrei Năstase, declared that the ACUM Bloc is still waiting for a firm and public commitment from the PSRM regarding the non-admission of a coalition with the DPM. “The Bloc ACUM reiterates the primordial necessity of releasing all state institutions from captivity as a prerequisite for fulfilling commitments made to voters. We also advocate for not allowing early elections in the context of oligarchic control over law and regulatory institutions, including the Central Electoral Commission, the Audiovisual Council, the Prosecutor’s Office, the National Anti-Corruption Center, “ stated Andrei Năstase.
On the other hand, Maia Sandu, the leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and the second leader of the political bloc ACUM highlighted again the lack of intention to build any coalition with the PSRM: “We do not make a coalition. We want to discuss and understand if there is a commitment from the PSRM faction to participate in the process of de-oligarchization. We also want to hear whether the socialists commit themselves to vote in the Parliament,” added Maia Sandu.
In the meantime, all members of the PSRM, including the president of the faction, Zinaida Greceanîi, went today to Moscow for a one-day visit to the Russian State Duma. According to a press release published on the PSRM official website, the Socialists will have bilateral meetings with the State Duma members, as well as with the representatives of the largest parties of the Russian State Duma. “We remind that the PSRM signed a cooperation agreement with the governing party of the Russian Federation” Edinaia Rossia “, as well as with the political party in the State Duma” Spravedlivaia Rossia “, the PSRM press release stated.
Moreover, after the ACUM bloc came up with the draft laws and repeatedly declared that no majority government based on the ACUM-PSRM coalition will be created, Vlad Batrîncea, the executive secretary of the PSRM, published a reaction in which he mentions that the working group creation does not make any sense, as long as the representatives of the bloc are not available to discuss the initial conditions from which to start negotiations on the creation of a ruling coalition.
“We regret that the representatives of the ACUM bloc continue to show political egoism. They insist on this impossible formula when a political party gaining the third position after the number of seats in the Parliament calls for the speaker and the prime minister to be voted together with a minority government of their faction, just like the agenda proposed by ACUM tates, without taking into account the PSRM proposals. ACUM also shows irresponsibility, while trying to avoid the creation of a functional governing coalition with the PSRM, which would allow the demolition of the current government and exclude the risk of snap parliamentary elections,” said Batrîncea.
In such a way, the ACUM bloc insists on the creation of a minority government, where Maia Sandu would be the Prime Minister, and Andrei Năstase would be the Speaker of the Parliament of Moldova. On the other hand, the PSRM proposes the creation of a parliamentary majority, in which Zinaida Greceanîi would be the Speaker, and the prime minister would be elected from the ACUM bloc.
The third ‘fable character’ – the DPM, was lately, at least officially, ignored during the ACUM-PSRM discussions, so they decided to remind about their existence. The DPM spokesman, Vitalie Gamurari, asked in a Facebook post the parliamentary parties to “come back down to earth” and to focus on the real agenda of the citizens, as well as their immediate needs, instead of “only on the desperation to get positions and take control of several state institutions”, as Gamurari said. According to the DPM agenda, such things as increase of wages and pensions, job security and better roads must be a priority. “This is why working groups need to be created, not for sharing the functions,” added the DPM spokesman.
Vitalie Gamurari forgot to mention, though, that no real social, economical or judicial reforms are possible without the liquidation of the oligarchic regime, existent in the Republic of Moldova thanks to the party Gamurari is a member of. As it seems, every parliamentary faction is interested in creation of better living conditions for the Moldovan citizens. It’s just that somebody wants to start with the hardest reforms (fighting like a pike to get to the water), others want to follow the already tested options (jumping up like a frog, but without any leap forward) and the third ones prefer to pretend that they have the solution and blame others for their own fails (walking sideways like a crab).
Society
“They are not needy, but they need help”. How Moldovan volunteers try to create a safe environment for the Ukrainian refugees
At the Government’s ground floor, the phones ring constantly, the laptop screens never reach standby. In one corner of the room there is a logistics planning meeting, someone has a call on Zoom with partners and donors, someone else finally managed to take a cookie and make some coffee. Everyone is exhausted and have sleepy red eyes, but the volunteers still have a lot of energy and dedication to help in creating a safe place for the Ukrainian refugees.
“It’s like a continuous bustle just so you won’t read the news. You get home sometimes and you don’t have time for news, and that somehow helps. It’s a kind of solidarity and mutual support,” says Vlada Ciobanu, volunteer responsible for communication and fundraising.
The volunteers group was formed from the very first day of war. A Facebook page was created, where all types of messages immediately started to flow: “I offer accommodation”, “I want to help”, “I want to get involved”, “Where can I bring the products?”, “I have a car and I can go to the customs”. Soon, the authorities also started asking for volunteers’ support. Now they all work together, coordinate activities and try to find solutions to the most difficult problems.
Is accommodation needed for 10, 200 or 800 people? Do you need transportation to the customs? Does anyone want to deliver 3 tons of apples and does not know where? Do you need medicine or mobile toilets? All these questions require prompt answers and actions. Blankets, sheets, diapers, hygiene products, food, clothes – people bring everything, and someone needs to quickly find ways of delivering them to those who need them.
Sometimes this collaboration is difficult, involves a lot of bureaucracy, and it can be difficult to get answers on time. “Republic of Moldova has never faced such a large influx of refugees and, probably because nobody thought this could happen, a mechanism of this kind of crisis has not been developed. Due to the absence of such a mechanism that the state should have created, we, the volunteers, intervened and tried to help in a practical way for the spontaneous and on the sport solutions of the problems,” mentions Ecaterina Luțișina, volunteer responsible for the refugees’ accommodation.
Ana Maria Popa, one of the founders of the group “Help Ukrainians in Moldova/SOS Українці Молдовa” says that the toughest thing is to find time and have a clear mind in managing different procedures, although things still happen somehow naturally. Everyone is ready to intervene and help, to take on more responsibilities and to act immediately when needed. The biggest challenges arise when it is necessary to accommodate large families, people with special needs, for which alternative solutions must be identified.
Goods and donations
The volunteers try to cope with the high flow of requests for both accommodation and products of all kinds. “It came to me as a shock and a panic when I found out that both mothers who are now in Ukraine, as well as those who found refuge in our country are losing their milk because of stress. We are trying to fill an enormous need for milk powder, for which the demand is high and the stocks are decreasing”, says Steliana, the volunteer responsible for the distribution of goods from the donation centers.
Several centers have been set up to collect donations in all regions of Chisinau, and volunteers are redirecting the goods to where the refugees are. A system for processing and monitoring donations has already been established, while the volunteer drivers take over the order only according to a unique code.
Volunteers from the collection centers also do the inventory – the donated goods and the distributed goods. The rest is transported to Vatra deposit, from where it is distributed to the placement centers where more than 50 refugees are housed.
When they want to donate goods, but they don’t know what would be needed, people are urged to put themselves in the position of refugees and ask themselves what would they need most if they wake up overnight and have to hurriedly pack their bags and run away. Steliana wants to emphasise that “these people are not needy, but these people need help. They did not choose to end up in this situation.”
Furthermore, the volunteer Cristina Sîrbu seeks to identify producers and negotiate prices for products needed by refugees, thus mediating the procurement process for NGOs with which she collaborates, such as Caritas, World Children’s Fund, Polish Solidarity Fund, Lifting hands, Peace Corps and others.
One of the challenges she is facing now is the identifying a mattress manufacturer in the West, because the Moldovan mattress manufacturer that has been helping so far no longer has polyurethane, a raw material usually imported from Russia and Ukraine.
Cristina also needs to find solutions for the needs of the volunteer groups – phones, laptops, gsm connection and internet for a good carrying out of activities.
Hate messages
The most difficult thing for the communication team is to manage the hate messages on the social networks, which started to appear more often. “Even if there is some sort of dissatisfaction from the Ukrainian refugees and those who offer help, we live now in a very diverse society, there are different kind of people, and we act very differently under stress,” said Vlada Ciobanu.
Translation by Cătălina Bîrsanu
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.
Photo: unknown
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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