Parties-Phantoms, Parties - State Institutions, Parties - State Enterprises

20 parties have registered in the current election campaign. Many people say it is a too big number for such a small country as Moldova. At the same time, much more parties could take part in the election campaign.

Activists launch Moldova’s first ‘Space Camp’ © Susan Coughtrie

Moldovan Asymptotes

Headlines

• "Moldova Azi" information portal is changing its format and editorial content, Centrul pentru Jurnalism Independent, 8 August 2011, 15:19
• Moldovan students queue up to apply for scholarships in Romania, Info-Prim Neo, 4 August 2011, 13:44
• Ukrainian scholarships not very popular in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo, 2 August 2011, 14:58
• Kent Larson: USAID will always support process of Moldova democratization, INFOTAG, 1 August 2011, 13:42
• Parliament sets up new commission - for checking civil servants' property and incomes, INFOTAG, 29 July 2011, 9:00
• Scandal in Moldovan parliament over deputies' relatives, INFOTAG, 29 July 2011, 9:00

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Any poor student knows that the Republic of Moldova is geographically situated in Europe. Besides, over 70% of Moldovan citizens are ready to vote for accession of the Republic of Moldova to the EU at a possible referendum. Based on these uncontestable truths, any foreigner would suppose that the Republic of Moldova should be standing right in front of the EU wide-open door and that lots of Cricova sparkling wine has already been cooled down to celebrate the formal accession to the EU.

For, it looks like the Moldovan political reality cannot be described by these two parameters only, especially given the example of the Baltic States, our ex-colleagues within the USSR, which has proven that there is a need for more than just referendums in acceding to the EU. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia managed to avoid an outburst of regional conflicts, while the local population, even those with no right to citizenship, consolidated on the basis of the idea of reestablishment of the national identity lost in 1940. These three states consciously joined NATO and were accepted in the EU in 2004.  

Within all this period, the Republic of Moldova has not made a move. With the three presidents - all former members of the CC of the CP SSRM - we are proudly sinking in the CIS and keep begging at Kremlin gates hoping to receive a small reunited country from the generous hands of the Russian Tsar. Komsomol members, raised and educated by the CPRM Homo Sovieticus patriots, they pounce on those who make an attempt to draw the attention to the illegal presence of Russian troops on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, while about 77% of the questioned Moldovan citizens have "some confidence" and "very much confidence" in Vladimir Putin.

Instead, other countries have moved towards the EU, including Romania that, having overcome the Ceausescu's inheritance with some delay, has managed to catch the train of accession to the EU. Thanks to this achievement of the neighboring country we have become an EU neighbor, which raises the following question in Brussels: "What shall we do with the Republic of Moldova?" As genuine diplomats, the Europeans have invented what is widely known as the European Neighborhood Policy. In the case of the Republic of Moldova, the declared goal of this policy has been determined by the interests of the EU that realizes very well that a poor, unstable neighbor with an unsettled regional conflict is a threat for the EU itself. The EU-Republic of Moldova Action Plan signed on February 22, 2005 was focused on the following targets: stability, security and welfare of the Republic of Moldova, an EU neighbor. That meant that it was the Moldovan society that had to roll up the sleeves and get down to the implementation of the Plan in order to report three years later to the EU on the progress made in implementing European values. Everything looked quite optimistic at the moment of signing the Plan.

There was still an unknown variable, since a complete implementation of the Plan would mean the political end for the CPRM and Vladimir Voronin. This would mean that the CPRM would have to compete with the other parties on equal foot; that journalists would expose all the politicians starting with Vladimir Voronin in independent mass media; that justice in the Republic of Moldova would not depend on governance; that we would have an attractive investment climate in our country, etc. In other words, the CPRM, as the ruling party implementing the Plan, would have to give up everything that made governing in the Republic of Moldova so "pleasant" and allowed treating Moldovan society as a flock with no dignity, memory and brains voluntarily.

The result of breeding a pig can be directly measured on the scales. While the outcomes of the Plan implementation are still quite confusing at the end of 2008. We are absolutely fine with corruption, since the president of the country can find honest servants only by means of the lie detector. Although the public television has not said anything, it is well-known that the government of the Republic of Moldova has done nothing to implement the European standards for animal production and foodstuffs. EU Ambassadors keep making declarations to say diplomatically that democracy is not quite functioning in the Republic of Moldova overall. Still, Moldovan society does not seem to be concerned about it. The number of lawsuits lost at the ECHR by the Moldovan state keeps growing, just like the well-known fee that one has to pay for a fake Schengen visa.

Despite these confusing outcomes, the restless Europeans do not give up on the idea to democratize their neighbors, to see them as stable, prosperous and predictable countries. It seems that Russia has given them "solid" arguments in this sense by its actions in Georgia. So, the Eastern Partnership was launched on December 3, 2008 - "a new ambitious chapter in the relations of the EU with its Eastern neighbors". It is necessary to mention from the very beginning that this Partnership does not imply a possibility for the Republic of Moldova to accede to the EU at all. Once again it refers to continuous integration into the EU economy, facilitation of traveling on the EU territory provided compliance with the security criteria, consolidation of energy security, etc. It refers to partnership, which implies that we, citizens of the Republic of Moldova, must be able to bring Europe to our place! People can be forcedly deprived of freedom. But, nobody can be forced to fight for freedom, if they do not want it. In other words, the EU offers another chance to poor students in the field of human rights, functioning of the state of law, and development of a competitive market economy to catch up.

In Mathematics, there is a notion of "asymptote" - a straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely, but never reaches, as they go to infinity. It seems that Moldovans who are willing to pay 4 thousand Euros to get to the EU illegally, who do not realize that the officials elected by them mock at them in return, with Putin as an idol in their minds, are happy with this "asymptotic" way of integrating into the EU. 

I am part of the generation that used to be fooled by the slogan: "The current generation of Soviet people will live in communism!" With God's help, I am witnessing now the situation when the same communist party tries to fool us by another slogan: "The current generation of Moldovans will live in Europe!" provided that the CPRM continues to rule the country.

For the moment, the EU has declared that it is not going to negotiate the conditions of an Association Agreement for the Republic of Moldova until parliamentary elections in 2009. Probably, this is how the Europeans are trying to tell Moldovans that the CPRM headed by Vladimir Voronin are not compatible with European values. What will the naïve Europeans do if Moldovans give their free and democratic vote for the CPRM again?  

 Chisinau, December 11, 2008