A scandal around the head of the MFAEI Aureliu Ciocoi erupted again. The chief diplomat seems to have called on Moldovan labor migrants in Italy not to return to their homeland. Even if Ciocoi did not make this statement, it is obvious that banning idea is in the air.   Semion ALBU, RTA: The Chicu government recently overcame the first hundred days of its work. When born, it was called technocratic and this hinted at exact actions and behaviors to be expected of it. Already now we can say that the name was chosen by mistake. And the matter is not only in the mass of all kinds of mistakes and miscalculations, which, obviously, took place. The destiny of a truly technocratic government is to work effectively on solving problems, preferably without undue media noise. But unfortunately, the members of Chicu Cabinet over the past months, were only good at plunging loudly into bad stories. This time, Aureliu Ciocoi the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration distinguished again. It is indicative, actually, that the country's main diplomat, who must be restrained and accurate in any of his comments, comes under fire for the second time in a row, either because of an unsuccessful choice of words, or their incorrect interpretation. The new reason for the scandalous plot was his statement at a recent meeting in the government discussing the emerging epidemiological situation in the country. It is clear, it was about coronavirus first of all. For our country, this problem is becoming increasingly important and it even received recently a "yellow code". The main reason is that the largest outbreak in Europe occurred in Italy. The situation is serious: the number of cases is growing, many settlements are in quarantine, holiday and sporting events have been canceled. It is clear that, unlike distant China, a lot of things connect Moldova with Italy. Trade, culture, and most importantly, tens of thousands of labor migrants who constantly travel between the two countries. It was to them that the head of the MFAEI advised, in view of the growing epidemic, "to refrain from traveling, including to the Republic of Moldova." Obviously, such an openly cynical attitude towards people, whose shoulders largely keep the current Moldavian economy could not remain without attention and caused a new high-profile scandal. Moreover, the government began to stop it with rather primitive methods. At first, the state news agency, where the original news was posted, hastened to remove it and Prime Minister Ion Chicu personally accused the media of picking up the material of “gross manipulation”. Then there was information that Ciocoi was not at the meeting at all and he was confused with another representative of the MIDEI. The realism of such explanations is left to the government’s conscience. Although it is strange that the journalist of the state media resource did not recognize the whole minister (and, apparently, he, the journalist, also came up with his phrase “abstain from traveling”). Anyway, Chicu quickly tried to “blur” the effect of these statements and encouraged Moldovan citizens in Italy to return home. The most interesting thing is that, despite certain cynicism of his alleged statements, Aureliu Ciocoi, apparently, is much better than many of his colleagues aware of the situation. The degree of problem with coronavirus understanding show minister’s statements about a certain “quarantine at home” for citizens arriving from Apennine. Given the contagiousness of the virus, which literally closes entire cities in China, this method of dealing with it can clearly be considered "Moldavian know-how." The fact is that the government is completely unprepared to fight this new threat. There are neither the necessary technical means, nor the corresponding preventive measures. Even banal explanatory work with the population has not been carried out: people panicked up medical masks that are ineffective in terms of opposing coronavirus (according to reports in Moldovan telegram channels, there is already a shortage of them). Installing a thermal scanner at a Chisinau airport is, of course, a necessary and important matter, but globally there is little that will change. Therefore, if the outbreak in Italy grows, it is very likely that the government simply will have no choice but to introduce a ban on entering Moldova from this country. Indeed, no matter what the authorities tell us, there are essentially no other ways to deal with the epidemic and the virus penetration into the republic is very fraught. After all, everyone understands that here things with the healthcare sector are much worse than in relatively prosperous Italy. So, maybe now it’s not worth it to pounce on the head of the MFAEI. After all, he only voiced (if having truly made such a statement) the idea that, apparently, is now in the heads of many members of the government and in the near future may well be realized in practice.