Why Is PAS in a Hurry to Sell Off State’s Strategic Assets?

Victor ENI

Keeping in mind the scenario of losing power after electoral defeat, the ruling regime is in a hurry to transfer the most important state property to neighboring Romania  

Before the end of the spring-summer session and the holidays, the mono-majority MPs are obviously in a hurry to resolve the pending self-interested issues, so as not to leave them for a hot period of presidential elections. Since any careless action can be “fatal” for Maia Sandu’s image and rating, it is better to settle such matters now. At the same time, it seems that the rush is also due to another internal political crisis predicted in PAS, should Sandu be defeated in the fall. By the way, these assumptions are quite justified, given the ongoing scandals, failures in state administration and the overall dark clouds over the ruling party. They are in a hurry to settle those issues that they planned to leave for later, after the elections. For instance, last week the parliament approved in the first reading an agreement with the US government on the sale of the territory of the capital’s stadium for 18 million euros for the construction of a new American embassy. The very fact of handing over the central part of the city has long caused public concern and disapproval, which is why the deal could not be formalized for many years. But, apparently, this long epic began to cause strong irritation in Washington, and it is no coincidence that the final point was set after the recent visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Apparently, he was so convincing that the authorities quickly signed the necessary decision, regardless of all the political costs. And after that, in its traditionally clumsy manner, they tried to interrupt the uncomfortable topic with the news about the construction of a new expensive national stadium. Yet, this move caused even stronger disapproval – amid the deplorable socio-economic situation in the country, few people favored the multi-million-dollar spending on what is completely not a priority. But the stadium is only a part of PAS big plans a year before the end of its mandate. On 11 July, parliamentarians passed in the first reading a bill on amendments to the annex to the law on the management and privatization of state property. The point seems to be good – to imperatively prevent the privatization of such objects, which are of strategic importance. In a press release, the parliament boasts that “dozens of companies will be included in the list”. But for some reason it is silent that the deputies are going to exclude some important state assets from the same list. That’s the kind of double-dealing, which is very typical for all our political regimes. Attempts of the opposition and experts to clarify relevant details are met with vague explanations that no one is discussing privatization of such state assets as Moldtelecom, but “it is crucial to attract investments in order to develop such large enterprises”. To put it simply, this means that when a respected investor from an EU country appears on the horizon, PAS will not be able to refuse him, no matter what asset is in question. In fact, over the last few years, a lot of strategic objects and industries have come under the control of such an “investor” as Bucharest. Romanian officials have settled in senior positions in all key Moldovan departments, but they most thoroughly control the banking and financial sector, security and justice, the energy sector, as well as the transport and logistics industry. Obviously, not for nothing will the Romanians help their Bessarabian brothers to build high-voltage lines and get rid of Russian energy dependence. Most likely, clear terms are set to enable the transfer of large Moldovan assets, the possession of which will guarantee the inclusion of our republic in the unified energy complex of the European Union. By the way, energy minister Victor Parlicov has already confirmed the search for strategic partners to privatize two energy companies RED Nord and FEE Nord, which the government is preparing for privatization. It is clear where exactly such partners are sought. The option of Romania immediately comes to mind – according to the minister, it is not only a member of the EU, but it also enjoys “the best experience in implementing European norms in the management of the electricity sector”. By selling these enterprises and uniting the energy markets of the two countries, Parlicov expects to integrate Moldova into the common energy space of the EU by 2029. Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi also spilled the guts, just in time. He claims that Moldova “would welcome an increased role of Romania” by transferring the ownership of Moldovan power grids, the Giurgiulesti port and the capital’s international airport to it. Popsoi allegedly sees no other investor, and for Chisinau it is currently the “main state” among the list of North Atlantic countries we would like to see as strategic investors. Moreover, he confirmed that negotiations on the northern power grids regarding their transfer to Bucharest have already advanced, and on the Giurgiulesti port, the final technical work on the modification of the concession agreement is underway. Either the PAS functionaries failed to agree among themselves beforehand, or the joy of the soonest transfer of critical state property to Romania made Popsoi’s head spin, but obviously he was too hasty in announcing his “ambitious plans”. Therefore, in order to extinguish the resonance, the parliamentary commission on economy had to try its best to find such words that would calm the internal audience and not alarm the Romanian investors, who eventually be handed over everything. The opposition is trying in vain to shed light on the murky issue of privatizing the strategic property, which authorities want, in fact, to hand over in disguise. It even demanded that premier Dorin Recean be summoned to the parliamentary rostrum. But, of course, given the government’s efforts to hide the privatization process, they are not going to report to the people and MPs. Apparently, this is what prompted the Cabinet to cancel the norms on transparency of a number of important documents, that are actually classified. As it became known, back in June, amendments were introduced, according to which important government acts can be adopted outside the standard procedure, i.e. closed and without publication in the Monitorul Oficial. This means that we will only learn ex post facto about the transfer of some strategic sectors of the state to foreign companies. In fact, everything is going on according to our political tradition. Some figures, at the end of their rule, took a billion from Moldova, others took away business, and the current PAS decided to transfer our state assets to foreign investors and, perhaps, even to become co-owners. Whether this is bad or good is for the voters to judge. But the main conclusion is as follows: the ruling party allows for and considers quite probable the scenario of its defeat and departure. If PAS, Sandu, Grosu, Recean and others expected to remain in power for the next few years, they would focus on European integration as their main goal. Yet, the political reality forms a completely different motivation – to carve up and loot the state property.