Opinion: The Ruling Party’s Lack of Experience Is Already Taking Its Tall

Despite Moldova's revitalized international contacts, domestic affairs are not going well for the ruling party.

Semyon ALBU, RTA: The recently opened autumn season of the country’s political life does not seem to slow down in terms of various events, scandals and intrigues. It's safe to say, the Action and Solidarity Party has almost completely mastered its role of the party in power and is trying to make the most of the ample opportunities provided thereof. This prompts many experts and former officials to express their opinion on the current situation in the country, despite the very short period of PAS’s stay in power. And for the most part, their assessments are not too flattering. First of all, a very large bias in the “geography of success” of the new country's leadership was not left out. If we look at the foreign perimeter, certain achievements stand out. After the lack of international contacts, the republic's foreign relations are obviously experiencing a period of dynamic recovery. The dialogue with our neighbors, especially with Romania, is very lively: there is a constant exchange of delegations, numerous planned events, such as the joint meeting of governments and the practically resolved issue of resuming financial assistance with an increase in its previous volumes. Needless to say, the communication climate with the European Union has significantly improved. European integration is once again entering the top of our socio-political life, while Brussels predictably sends extremely positive messages to the ruling party, pledging all possible support, both financial and expert. Meanwhile, the relations with individual member countries of the Union have also revived. However, one probably shouldn’t exaggerate the merits of the new government too much, as it so far only uses its relatively untarnished “pro-Western” reputation that automatically opened the “doors” closed for the same socialists. In addition, a local imbalance can also be identified in foreign policy, when in fact one of its most important vectors – the eastern, or to be more precise the Russian one – has practically reached a deadlock. This is very inopportune, especially now, considering the urge to solve a series of very pressing issues with Moscow, which I will dwell on later. As for the domestic situation, things are clearly not going well for PAS. For a very short period of sole-party rule, too many mistakes have been made, which only confirms the worrisome forecasts of experts about the majority of the ruling party's appointees lacking practical experience. Suffice it to recall the scandal with the paid-for testing of the educational sphere employees, or the rude statements of the relevant minister, or the multiplying cases of nepotism in the appointment of certain high-ranking officials, or the generally dubious personnel policy cancelling competition and selecting based on personal loyalty. The news from reintegration fields is also not encouraging: the left bank has announced the start of a transport blockade and is wary of force scenarios for the conflict development. Meanwhile, a powerful attack on Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoianoglo continues. He was accused of all sorts of sins and even disrupting the next tranche of EU macro-financial assistance due to "non-investigating" the case of the theft of a billion. To dismiss Stoianoglo, not only did they put unprecedented pressure upon the Prosecutor's Office, but also adopted not quite constitutional, as most experts think, amendments to the law on the Prosecutor General's Office, in fact bringing this most important institution under control of the authorities. The persistent attempts to staff the key departments with loyal people have already generated accusations against the current leadership of a new attempt to “capture the state” and unflattering comparisons with Vlad Plahotniuc's era. While the authorities are focused mainly on taking over all the levers of power in the country and, as some observers note, over the various quasi-illegal financial flows accumulated by their predecessors, the socio-economic situation in the republic is showing tendencies towards deterioration. The unstoppable rise in fuel prices leads to growing prices for a wide range of goods and foodstuffs. The President openly admitted that “nothing can be done in that regard”, which the public was clearly not happy about. Against this background, the positive effect of the same increase in pensions, that the government is so proud of, has been almost neutralized. Future projections are very disappointing. The existing contract for the gas supply from Russia expires already this month. Negotiations to extend it are underway, but maintaining the previous price - $ 150 per thousand cubic meters - will be practically unrealistic. In recent months, prices for blue fuel in Europe have skyrocketed to record levels, confidently hitting the $ 700 mark. It is already rumored that it will also be increased for Moldova by at least 30 percent, and most likely even more. Such an increase in the future will cause a strong price and tariff spike for the population. Nevertheless, things are as if nothing and no one is going to handle that. The incumbent authorities have in fact moved away from the situation, stating that the new gas contract negotiations are the prerogative of Moldovagaz. It is clear now who will be a “scapegoat” when purchase prices get much higher. On the other hand, the country's leadership had the opportunity to influence the situation, and ideally this issue could become one of the topics for a summit meeting between Maia Sandu and Vladimir Putin. However, as you know, this meeting never took place, and given not entirely friendly moves, such as the speech at the Crimean Platform, there's no guarantee that it will take place at all. One can only guess how the country's new leadership will manage the emerging internal challenges. However, as of today, there are no special grounds to raise the level of expectations: with such a pace, Moldova will have to wait long for “better times”.