The Golden Share. The Way PDM Step Again into the Spotlight of Moldovan Politics

Vladimir ROTAR Crushed and discredited, as it seemed a year ago the Democratic Party of Moldova, unexpectedly has become the only political force everyone wants to cooperate with Yesterday, Pavel Filip the leader of the Democratic Party made a proposal to arrange a meeting of “healthy political forces” in the Moldovan parliament today, or rather, representatives of four factions - the PDM itself, the Party of Socialists and the pro-European PAS and DA. “This dialogue will be the evidence of a return to normal communication, it will show citizens that, despite things divides us, we are able to speak, offer ideas for society’s benefit. We have a lot to discuss without waiting for a new parliament session,” Filip noted. According to the chief democrat, it is planned to discuss three important issues at the meeting: the difficult situation in agriculture; "fair and transparent elections", and the epidemiological situation in the republic. It is curious that the Pro Moldova group and the Shor party were not invited to attend the discussion: according to Philip, PDM refuses any form of interaction with these formations. Those, in turn, have already managed to accuse the Democrats of trying to evade responsibility for the situation in the country and shield behind opposition. It should be admitted that against the background of some lull after the June-July turbulent events, the Democrats' initiative attracted wide public attention. So, the main topic of discussion - crop failure and its consequences - was chosen extremely efficient. This is a really urgent problem, which is close to wide layers of the Moldovan population. The catastrophe in the country's agriculture is a fact that the authorities and the opposition do equally recognize. Agricultural producers are suffering multimillion-dollar losses; farmers everywhere go to major protests (another one is expected to take place today). It is characteristic that experts predicted a significant decrease in harvest volumes at the beginning of this year due to a snowless winter, late frosts, floods and other climatic anomalies. Nevertheless, the authorities traditionally turned out to be completely unprepared for such a situation and now they are sharply seeking funding (as usually, primarily abroad) and ways to help the affected agrarians. Thus, it is in full preparation an appeal to the World Bank requesting allocating an urgent targeted loan. Anyway, the way the situation in agriculture has developed today exactly this way and not another is the topic for a separate article. Now we are more interested in the very appeal of democrats, to which, as typical all the invited forces responded quite quickly. Some with reservations (the DA platform agreed to discuss only the situation in agriculture), but still. The current Democrats initiative once again emphasized a fact that seemed inconceivable last year and namely, that PDM has unexpectedly become one of the most respectable political parties in Moldova, everyone wants to cooperate and communicate with. Few believed in Philip's statements a year ago that the party would be able to complete the path of "oligarchic cleansing" but judging by the behavior of colleagues in parliament and international partners, this process was recognized as completed and successful. Well yes, the democrats lost more than half of their parliamentary deputies, who deserted to Andrian Candu's split group and the Shor party in the process of de-oligarchization. But even without its odious patron and his "canned", the Democratic Party was able to re-obtain both resources and influence, and moreover, disproportionate to their real strength in parliament (recall, only 13 mandates out of 101). Now the PDM is in a very convenient position - on the one hand, they have half of the government (and a bunch of cushy jobs in various state institutions), and in the future, the post of speaker or prime minister. However, the party mostly prefers to keep in its senior (is it?) partner’s shadow -  the PSRM, which together with the president, is receives all the failures bumps in domestic and foreign policy and in the fight against pandemic. At the same time, PDM is slowly developing official and not really official contacts with the pro-European opposition, while simultaneously strengthening its reputation among the key Western embassies. The Democratic Party quite cleverly uses the antagonism of the PSRM and ACUM on the one hand, and the reluctance of the pro-Europeans to get involved in any alliances (even temporary and situational ones) with the Candu group and especially the Shor party. Thus, the democrats gradually became a kind of "golden share" the preservation of current or the formation of a new coalition depends on. The pro-European parties also confirm this status, and regard the DPM's position as the key condition to form a new parliamentary majority. Arranging the four factions’ meeting against this background can be viewed not only as a successful PR campaign but as a further strengthening of this status also. In addition, the Democrats are likely to be keeping a close eye on their precarious coalition partners. Moreover, last week the Constitutional Court effected another blow to the presidency institution. On the one hand, the Constitutional Court removed the threat of new "rolling blackouts" of the head of state and on the other hand, it deprived the parliament of a powerful pressure lever on the parliament as to the head of the cabinet appointment. At the same time, even the Court clarified some points, it confused others introducing into the decision text lots of vague formulations that are not present in the Constitution. That is, in fact, it reserved the right to interpret each individual case in its own way. In these conditions, and also taking into account the precarious position of the current coalition alliance, the Democrats try securing a cloudless future for themselves in case of a sharp change in situation. Therefore, according to some experts, the Democrats’ recent actions can be considered a kind of springboard to ensure a sharp transition maneuver from the PSRM to the pro-European opposition. The viability of this scenario increases even more the more if the opposition candidate wins the presidential elections. Perhaps the only thing that can hinder these plans is the further party’s disintegration under Vlad Plahotniuc’s blows, and early elections where the PDM will most likely be unable overcoming the electoral threshold. If early elections still do not take place, it will depend on the democrats which coalition Moldova will live in for the next few years. And even the PDM gained a lot while in alliance with the PSRM, there are many factors that might make it change mind: first of all, the position of international partners and the results of the presidential race. If the democrats choose to stay with the PSRM till the end then one can expect an even greater increase in their appetites, and accordingly of their demands on coalition partners.