{"id":187036,"date":"2013-10-14T20:04:05","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T20:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.moldova.org\/2013\/10\/14\/moldova-is-now-where-romania-was-15-years-ago-239497-eng\/"},"modified":"2013-10-14T20:04:05","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T20:04:05","slug":"moldova-is-now-where-romania-was-15-years-ago-239497-eng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/moldova-is-now-where-romania-was-15-years-ago-239497-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"Moldova is now where Romania was 15 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The Republic of Moldova is seen by Vlad Spanu as lagging about 10-15 years behind.<\/p>\n

Mr. Spanu is the President of the Moldova Foundation based in Washington, D.C. He worked for the Moldovan Foreign Service in 1992-2001.<\/p>\n

During a private visit to Moldova that was concluded a few days ago, Mr. Spanu did not seem impressed by the changes in the country. He maintains that the lack of governance transparency makes the people lose trust in the current pro-Western ruling coalition. Moreover, the Communists are likely to return to power after the elections of next year.<\/p>\n

“This is because the current government, although more pro-Western than communists, has betrayed the trust of electorate, not being able to deliver what they promised,” Vlad Spanu said.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that corruption and lack of transparency are among the main issues Moldova deals with.<\/p>\n

“A mixture of government corruption and geopolitics could be seen everywhere,” Vlad Spanu said. “Just these days, when the Moldovan government works hard to secure an Association Agreement with the European Union, the same government (or some elements of it) gave the country’s only airport in concession for 49 years to a Russian company linked to Russia’s intelligence services.”<\/p>\n

The ex-diplomat is concerned about the situation of Moldova’s main bank “Banca de Economii,” which was recently acquired by “some Russian entities in a non-transparent deal.” Most of the shares of this bank are state-owned.<\/p>\n

The President of the Moldova Foundation observed that separation of powers in Moldova is “at its incipient form” and “checks and balances are almost non-existent.”<\/p>\n

He suggests the modification of the electoral law, where the lawmakers to be elected on the uninominal voting system following the example of the United States.<\/p>\n

“This way they will be accountable to people, not to their party leaders,” Vlad Spanu said.<\/p>\n

According to him, another important reform the country needs to implement – to be in line with EU standards – is decentralization, including the reform in the fiscal policy.<\/p>\n

“Currently, all taxes, including local, are collected by the central government and given back to country’s districts, often favoring those districts that have a higher percentage of votes during elections for parties in power,” Mr. Spanu explained. “Thus, local governments, city halls are powerless when it comes to forming their own budgets that should be formed from local taxes. This was a tool of the central government used by both communists and current ruling coalition.”<\/p>\n

Travelling to Romania for several days, Vlad Spanu got the chance to meet with some officials discussing the political and economic situation of the EU member state. After his talks, he has learnt that a lot of infrastructure projects were underway, more foreign investment were emerging and there is a steady fight against corruption.<\/p>\n

“Some members of the government, parliamentarians are accused of corruption and persecuted, some are in jail. Even ex-Prime Minister of Romania spent some time in jail. Now, a wealthy parliamentarian in EU Parliament is in jail for his corruption deals. Media (especially TV and newspapers), although owned, in part, by different interest groups affiliated to political parties, is free. Quite a lot of debates, open and tough criticism are going on in a 24\/7 cycle,” Mr. Spanu said.<\/p>\n

He continued: "The Republic of Moldova is now where Romania was some 15 years ago and it will take time and effort for the Moldovan civil society to evolve at the level when it would be able to hold politicians accountable for their promises during elections."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>The Republic of Moldova is seen by Vlad Spanu as lagging about 10-15 years behind. Mr. Spanu is the President of the Moldova Foundation based in Washington, D.C. He worked for the Moldovan Foreign Service for several years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The Republic of Moldova is seen by Vlad Spanu as lagging about 10-15 years behind.<\/p>\n

Mr. Spanu is the President of the Moldova Foundation based in Washington, D.C. He worked for the Moldovan Foreign Service in 1992-2001.<\/p>\n

During a private visit to Moldova that was concluded a few days ago, Mr. Spanu did not seem impressed by the changes in the country. He maintains that the lack of governance transparency makes the people lose trust in the current pro-Western ruling coalition. Moreover, the Communists are likely to return to power after the elections of next year.<\/p>\n

“This is because the current government, although more pro-Western than communists, has betrayed the trust of electorate, not being able to deliver what they promised,” Vlad Spanu said.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that corruption and lack of transparency are among the main issues Moldova deals with.<\/p>\n

“A mixture of government corruption and geopolitics could be seen everywhere,” Vlad Spanu said. “Just these days, when the Moldovan government works hard to secure an Association Agreement with the European Union, the same government (or some elements of it) gave the country’s only airport in concession for 49 years to a Russian company linked to Russia’s intelligence services.”<\/p>\n

The ex-diplomat is concerned about the situation of Moldova’s main bank “Banca de Economii,” which was recently acquired by “some Russian entities in a non-transparent deal.” Most of the shares of this bank are state-owned.<\/p>\n

The President of the Moldova Foundation observed that separation of powers in Moldova is “at its incipient form” and “checks and balances are almost non-existent.”<\/p>\n

He suggests the modification of the electoral law, where the lawmakers to be elected on the uninominal voting system following the example of the United States.<\/p>\n

“This way they will be accountable to people, not to their party leaders,” Vlad Spanu said.<\/p>\n

According to him, another important reform the country needs to implement – to be in line with EU standards – is decentralization, including the reform in the fiscal policy.<\/p>\n

“Currently, all taxes, including local, are collected by the central government and given back to country’s districts, often favoring those districts that have a higher percentage of votes during elections for parties in power,” Mr. Spanu explained. “Thus, local governments, city halls are powerless when it comes to forming their own budgets that should be formed from local taxes. This was a tool of the central government used by both communists and current ruling coalition.”<\/p>\n

Travelling to Romania for several days, Vlad Spanu got the chance to meet with some officials discussing the political and economic situation of the EU member state. After his talks, he has learnt that a lot of infrastructure projects were underway, more foreign investment were emerging and there is a steady fight against corruption.<\/p>\n

“Some members of the government, parliamentarians are accused of corruption and persecuted, some are in jail. Even ex-Prime Minister of Romania spent some time in jail. Now, a wealthy parliamentarian in EU Parliament is in jail for his corruption deals. Media (especially TV and newspapers), although owned, in part, by different interest groups affiliated to political parties, is free. Quite a lot of debates, open and tough criticism are going on in a 24\/7 cycle,” Mr. Spanu said.<\/p>\n

He continued: "The Republic of Moldova is now where Romania was some 15 years ago and it will take time and effort for the Moldovan civil society to evolve at the level when it would be able to hold politicians accountable for their promises during elections."<\/p>\n

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