Moldova’s President Maia Sandu has nominated former interior ministry chief Dorin Recean, who headed the internal political department from 2009 to 2013, as the country’s new prime minister. Recean is also the secretary of the country’s Supreme Security Council and adviser to President Maia Sandu on national defense and security.
The decision came after Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigned after a year and a half in power, and MPs from Moldova’s ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) met on February 9 to discuss changes to the government.
The correspondent of the Russian media service spoke with Moldovan experts about the possible causes and probable consequences of large-scale changes in the highest political spheres of the country applying for EU membership.
“You can’t talk about some kind of crisis, split and early elections”
Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova Oazu Nantoi stresses that the resignation of the government does not at all mean the appointment of early parliamentary elections in the country.
“What happened can be seen as a planned staff turnover, which has long been discussed in the ruling party. And now former Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilitsa remains in our team, we treat her very warmly. But, at the same time, political life in Moldova is quite complicated, all sorts of crises have fallen on the fate of the government, not counting the direct aggression of Russia, and some of our government colleagues are “burning out.” In this situation, after a long free discussion within the party with the participation of the president of the country, we came to the conclusion that we need to offer society another prime minister with a different team,” the Moldovan politician said.
According to Nantoy, it is too early to talk about the personal composition. As for Natalia Gavrilitsa’s likely successor as prime minister, Dorin Recean is known to enjoy the confidence of Maia Sandu and is very likely to work with the country’s president.
“Next week, the composition of the government will most likely be voted on in parliament, so we cannot speak of some kind of crisis, split and early elections,” the media source said.
To a question of clarification on the link between the replacement of the Moldovan Prime Minister and the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Oazu Nantoi answered as follows: “The first shock wave took place immediately after February 24th. Then there was the question: will Ukraine survive? Personally, I know specific people who packed their bags and left Moldova saying, “We don’t want to live in constant fear.” We now see that the aggression of the Putin regime is bogged down. This does not mean that the war has ceased to be a bloody meat grinder and that the aggressor is ready to stop, but it is quite obvious that he suffered a political defeat and that Ukraine stands will stand.
According to the member of the Moldovan Parliament, difficult options for direct risks are unlikely. At the same time, Mr Nantoy recalled that on February 9, during a meeting of the Council of Europe, Vladimir Zelenskyyy had announced the transfer to Maia Sandu of a “plan for the destabilization of the Republic of Moldova by the Russian secret service”.
“I’m split on this. First, we know that in Russia the main national sport is “cutting the dough” in the structures that prepare such plans for Putin, and the latter do not always correspond to reality. Suffice it to recall the scandals and rumors surrounding the fifth department of the FSB, which allegedly convinced Putin that Ukraine would welcome them with flowers. On the other hand, the set of tools that Russia uses is quite well known and primitive, and so here in Moldova we try to anticipate possible scenarios with our modest resources in order to avoid any destabilization,” he comments. he.
And he concludes: “Yes, we have a “fifth column”, we all know them as puffs, with their financial motivation. At the same time, I believe that the question of security does not disappear, but there are other This winter, the government and parliament have found unprecedented resources to compensate citizens for various social projects due to energy vulnerability, etc.
Oazu Nantoi is convinced that the country needs a new development strategy, and supporters of Maia Sandu hope that the new government can reverse the negative processes in Moldovan society.
“According to audiences, we have the president first, then there are pro-Russian politicians”
Veaceslav Ioniță, doctor of economics, former chairman of the parliamentary committee on economy, budget and finance, considers that the energy crisis that hit the country this winter is one of the reasons, but not the most important, of the resignation of the government. Moreover, a similar situation occurred in 1998 and 2006, when Russia also tried to blackmail Moldova. And now Russia’s war against Ukraine has been added.
“We did not have such a shock when the prices not only of gas, but also of electricity, petroleum products and heating rose. In addition, in 2022 we had the highest inflation in the last twenty years, and for the first time in many years, the growth in the wages of the population has lagged seriously behind the growth in prices” , described the Moldovan expert on the economic situation. . And he pointed out that the expectations of the citizens of the republic, who supported both Maia Sandu and the Action and Solidarity party in the last elections, have turned into a certain disappointment.
“And it turned out that in a few months, the government ‘ate’ his potential. Never in history have we had a prime minister with such a low rating: Natalya Gavrilitsa barely made it into the top ten politicians. In terms of audience, the president is in the first place, then come the pro-Russian politicians”, testifies Veaceslav Ionita. And he continues that the current government was, in fact, doomed a year ago, and that the 2022 crisis has “finished” it.
Asked by a correspondent of the Russian service media whether Moldova should now refuse to buy Russian gas, Veaceslav Ionita noted that at present the country does not have the infrastructure necessary to completely switch to alternative supplies, but that it was necessary to prepare for them gradually.
“For electricity, we passed a law according to which it is impossible to buy more than 70% from a single seller. And the same law should be adopted on gas, so that under long-term contracts we also receive a certain percentage of fuel from other sources, ”convinces the former chairman of the commission of the Moldovan Parliament on the economy, budget and finance.
“First Candidate Dorin Recean has his priorities straight”
Vitaly Andrievsky, director of the Institute for Effective Policy, is convinced that the resignation of the Moldovan government is linked to a whole series of problems, and not only the energy crisis, or the coronavirus pandemic, which has also fallen during the period of Gavrilitsa cabinet of ministers. And even – not only with the war in Ukraine.
“All in all, it made the outgoing government a ‘firefighter government’ – they constantly fought with some sort of challenge: covid, energy, the Ukrainian refugee problem. And in the end, this government has not become a development government,” Andrievsky said in his commentary for the Russian media service.
Meanwhile, in Moldovan society there was a strong demand for a government of development and creation, which could solve the problems of creating jobs, increasing wages, pensions and social benefits. But, clearly, Maia Sandu and the ruling party felt that the prime minister had exhausted his development potential. And despite the fact that the government under the leadership of Gavrilitsa did a lot, although it was criticized, it was decided that the cabinet should resign and a new prime minister with a new team would take its place.
“Society has certain expectations, and Prime Ministerial candidate Dorin Recean, in my opinion, set his priorities when he said he would start with order and discipline in state institutions. This is very important, and we feel that there is a certain laxity there, in the sense that certain decisions have been taken, but not carried through. Moreover, Rechan promises a new life in the economy, mainly linked to the attraction of investments, possibly with points of growth in the economy which must be helped to develop.
Of course, he talks about peace and stability in the country, because the situation is very difficult: there is a war nearby. We know Russia’s appetite for Moldova, that there are certain parties, politicians and citizens inside the country who are trying to destabilize the situation.
Therefore, peace and stability are important. But these are words. We really want to believe in them, but we have heard a lot of talk, now we want to see what will come next, ”concludes Vitaly Andrievsky.
