Is Maia Sandu the new Plahotniuc?

Semen ALBU

The power grab, rampant corruption and nepotism, the severing of ties with Russia – uncanny resemblance between the rule approach by Vlad Plahotniuc and Maia Sandu are hard to miss

As the days grow longer, the storms are stronger. Little by little we have to part from the illusions that, I confess, I cherished when the “Yellow Team” walked the halls of power, held heads high. I was naive enough to believe that here they are the “new people”, technocratic reformers fostered in the West, uncorrupted unlike their predecessors, having a national mandate for great accomplishments under the keen tutelage of Brussels. And this splendor will be guided by Madam President as the true symbol of the country and its new progressive face. The anticipation was that Moldova would rush into a bright future like a bat out of hell. The reality turned out to be more prosaic. If there was a rush, then it led somewhere to the bottom and at the speed of a racing car. It turned out that Brussels, in general, does not care about the republic. The main thing is to say more words about the special European path and reforms, keep the market open for the EU, and cut ties with Russia – and then you can do whatever you want. It appeared that the reforms according to the “Yellow Team” are infinitely distant from democracy and law. The people’s mandate found to be a permission for each and every travesty of justice. It turned out that corruption and nepotism are not at all alien to “good people” either. Well, it is not surprising that the new authorities are reaping the well-deserved fruits, and, namely, “honorable” comparisons and associations with the autocratic rule of the oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. There are so many parallels that the former owner of Moldova is now probably having the near-constant hiccups because of frequent allusions in our republic. But what can we do? There are plenty of reasons for that, and the crown of the “new Plahotniuc” looks more and more organic on Maia Sandu’s head. As the saying goes, “The king is dead. Long live the king!” Maybe I am exaggerating. Let us figure it out. Power Grab In fact, the only thing that the “Yellow Team” has succeeded in over the past months is to dive their predator’s hands into almost all key structures and state institutions. The way they did it will certainly fall under the criminal proceedings sometime later, in really good times. In the meantime, we have to watch how the PAS, along the path beaten by Plahotniuc, settles its people to the crucial positions in parallel with the transfer of the country's judicial system to the track of serving own interests. Of course, the most shameful step was the raider seizure of the Prosecutor General's Office. The president did not like the head of this agency for a very long time, and the time has come to settle accounts after the July tragedy (is it possible to call the results of those elections differently now?). However, the “Yellows”, unlike Plahotniuc, show no great intelligence and foxery, and therefore they could not find a loophole in the legislation to arrange smart removal of Alexandru Stoianoglo. But it did not bother anyone: after all, if you cannot bypass the wall, then you can simply break through it. Of course, together with the principles of democracy, the rule of law and the elementary rules of decency, but you can do what you want in the “captured state”… We know the result. The scandalous amendments to the law “On the Prosecutor's Office”, which have already received devastating assessments of the Venice Commission, which conclusion directly states that these amendments are not about democracy, but about the selfish interests of the ruling party (our authorities have never fallen so low). The detention of the Prosecutor General was no less absurd. It came along with spectacular detention and fake criminal frame-up, as Vlad Plahotniuc taught. Nothing interesting has been dig out so far. And it may well be that Stoianoglo will soon be free, but the PAS and the president shall present in a poor light. Of course, they did not forget about the pivotal element that once provided a reliable cover for Plahotniuc and his regime, i.e the Constitutional Court. If Plahotniuc preferred to keep the Constitutional Court in his hands via systematic bribes and threats, the new authorities went even further, corrupting judges directly at the expense of the budget. Brilliant! Yes, the insane increase in judges’ salaries was eventually banned in a staged manner (where a kind-hearted tsar corrects the overreaching of the boyars, though they are also good guys), but it happened only due to great excitement and for a while. Igor Grosu, however, said that he would get back to this issue, but next time they would act more subtly. Well, at least they will try. How can we omit the elections in Balti? The authorities simply removed the winner of the first round and the clear favorite of the second round from the race. It reminds of the glorious times of Plahotniuc, who similarly annulled the victory of Andrei Nastase in Chisinau. All this is just the tip of the iceberg. And, if we also trace the appointments to other authorities, to the anticorruption bodies, etc., then the whole picture of the slow PAS metastasing the body of the state will open at a glance. Corruption and Nepotism The fight against corruption is the alpha and omega of the ruling party, and, at every opportunity, we are told about fierce struggle of the new authorities against all kinds of bribetakers, thieves and shady scheme beneficiaries. Or they are not fighting? Since we see nothing except for pompous words. Did they arrange at least one show trial over a major corrupt official? No. Have anyone from numerous people involved in the billion been jailed? No, as well. Shady schemes are still in place and are flourishing. It so happened somehow again that all illegal enrichment methods look bad until you are in charge of them. But as soon as you lead the way, they are up to scratch. This is probably why we still do not know any positive example where the authorities would have overcome a corruption scheme with the return of money to the budget (and keeping in mind the PAS’s striving for self-promotion, any such story would have been trumpeted throughout the country for months, if not years). For that matter, the rot starts at the top, as they say, and what can we demand from the rest, if the president's closest ally and deputy prime minister participates in offshore companies and is not shy about it at all? Just the same story describes nepotism, which seems to be ineradicable in our country. All the scandalous episodes when the right people entered the state bodies at fictitious competitions (or even without them) are innumerable. It is enough to look at the very top to understand how the whole system works. There we have the President who, being a symbol, banner, monument, etc., must set a personal example. What do we have in the end? Well, something like this: one sister of Maia Sandu was promptly appointed the head of the Parliament Speaker’s Office, the other sister took the position of Natalia Gavrilita’s Press Secretary. What a family of talents, really! Moreover, do not forget that the President's aunt is a PAS deputy... Enough said, the paths of nepotism in our country are apparently past finding out. Moreover, how not give in to temptation to give a warm and cushy job to a friend or a relative, when the President’s (and not only hers) family members take the cozy offices of state bodies en masse? Even a former pimp. Well, the main thing is that the person is “good”, if you understand what I mean. People Are the New Oil No matter how hard the new government tries to play with philanthropy, it turns out badly. The fact that the population primarily sees the electoral resource was already clear from the populist initiative to raise pensions, which became almost the highlight of the electoral program of both Sandu herself and later her party. Cheap move. And after all, there was enough hypocrisy after all the loud accusations of the same to their opponents. The fact that the population is primarily considered the electoral resource was already evident by the populist initiative to raise pensions. It became almost the highlight of the election agenda offered by Sandu and her party. It’s a parlor trick. After all, they had enough hypocrisy for the loud accusations of their opponents to the same end. As everyone knows, the aforementioned pension increase went up in smoke, especially in the context of a sharp rise in prices for many goods and products. There is an increase in the retirement age on the top. Well, whom do we love more in the end – our citizens or the IMF? I don't know whether tariffs should be mentioned at all. The narrow-mindedness and impenetrability of the PAS and the President personally led to such large numbers in gas billing. At the same time, the government also dares to point out its “support”, which is still insufficient to cover the damage caused. And what kind of support are we talking about, in principle, if it is budget money? This support comes from the people’s taxes. Maybe, this is money personally funded by Sanda, Spinu and other officials? I don’t think so. For me personally, my favorite minister, Ala Nemerenco, serves as a living symbol of the party's real attitude to people. She is my favorite, as she does not hide her real thoughts behind official statements. And, you know, I like the truth, even if it is unpleasant. Although sometimes it is still a lame to listen to the words by the head of healthcare system about Moldovans who are spoiled by the choice of vaccine (how dare you?), about the ineffective vaccination marathons in terms of costs, about the justification of canceling benefits for doctors infected at work and paid PCR tests for teachers, and, of course, that stationary admission and treatment of unvaccinated patients is “a waste of money”. It's great when the minister in charge of the healthcare cares more about money than saving lives. It's a good official, she will go places. The funny thing is that even Plahotniuc looked more socially responsible in this regard. At least, saving his black clouded reputation, he threw bones to the people as various social programs like the First House and the Doctor for You, road construction, and wage increases. All this, of course, was done against the background of the “captured state” without any compensation. But it is sad that the state is being seized again, this time without any bonuses, but served with speeches about democracy and high ideals. Focus on Breaking with Russia The relationships between Moldova and Russia have never been stable. At different times, they were going hot and cold, but with the beginning of the 2010s, their slow extinction became obvious. To make matters worse, the decline of mutual trade, the ban on Russian TV channels, banning Russian schools and pressing out the Russian language, the regular deportations of Russian nationals. The situation improved slightly during the presidency of Igor Dodon, but based on rather chilly ground, since a lot was tied personally to him. During the election campaigns, the PAS showed the utmost pragmatism when speaking about foreign policy. They say, it is necessary, of course, to get out of international isolation and restore relations with neighbors and the West, but the eastern vector is “important” too. And in general, they should communicate with every party in order to receive buns from all sides. Quite a sensible approach.  In fact, all this turned out to be just fairy tales for gullible voters, who were cheated again. Although even Russia at first took seriously the words of the President and the talking heads of the ruling party, showing that they remain open to our country. Meanwhile, Moldova began to cut all ties with the Russian Federation with passion, and Maia Sandu personally plays a significant role in this process. She hasn't even bothered to find time to pay a visit to Moscow so far. I have to write a separate article to carefully examine and assess all the damage done to relations with Russia in recent months. Let's list only the main “milestones”. For example, the President's participation in the Crimean Platform Summit, which, in the opinion of many people in Ukraine, was useless, an event that did not bring Crimea any closer. The speech of our leader was no less senseless, despite the fact that her stay there was the first blow that derailed relations with the Russian Federation. To nail down a “success”, she never tires of repeating to every interlocutor about the need to withdraw Russian troops, about Russian spanners to our European future, about a bad gas contract, while ignoring the status of an observer in the Eurasian Union. When Sandu complains about expensive gas, it looks even comical. Hey, Madam President, gas is traded now in Europe for almost one and a half thousand dollars, and Moldova gets it three times cheaper, even against all the anti-Russian actions. If you don't like this price, maybe you will go to the United States, inexplicably appreciated for assistance in settling the gas crisis (the scope of this assistance remains unclear). And, of course, we couldn’t forget the last idiotic trick of the authorities regarding the deportation of Russians on the eve of the Transnistrian elections. Its reasons are unclear. Some Russians would not make voting on the left bank more democratic or more recognized. However, someone still needed to keep Russian public figures at the airport for hours and then send them out on return flights. This story has already been smeared in the Russian media, and a stone thrown in Moscow caused ripples on water, unpleasant for us. The State Duma has promptly attended to the strengthening support for Transnistria and response to Moldova. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also threatens with punishment. A problem, literally, came out of the blue. Although, perhaps, it's part of the design. Well, how can we forget Plahotniuc, since a ban on Russian citizens from entering Moldova appeared during his reign? Indeed, supporting this good initiative is not a crime, right, Madam President? I am almost one hundred percent sure that the above is not half the story, and I am afraid of even thinking of what is coming in the future. To this end, do not hesitate that the distinguished Vlad Plahotniuc will be surpassed.