EU Strategy in Moldova Is a Road to Nowhere

The blame for the plight of our country and the unsatisfactory results of the referendum lies also with the European Union, which should consider modifying its Moldova-related strategy

Semyon ALBU, RTA: For more than two decades our country has been following the European integration path. In terms of history, this is not a very long timeframe, but on the other hand it is like two thirds of the whole period of Moldova’s recent statehood. Having chosen this course in 2002, we, in fact, have never deviated from it, even if rhetoric was somewhat different. One regime was replaced by another, but in general they all were pro-Western. This path was neither easy nor stable. This can even be seen in the way the popular support for the process of rapprochement with the European Union used to change over time: for example, from more than 70% under Communist Voronin to less than 40% under Plahotniuc. Then there was a noticeable rise again, especially after the victory of Maia Sandu in the presidential election and of her party PAS in the parliamentary one. Encouraged by the political changes, people harbored high hopes for the promised “good times”, giving a huge credit of trust and monopoly status to the new government, and at the same time they believed again in the “European campaign”, whose popularity began to reach its former peak values. Only a few years have passed, and the referendum on EU membership suffers a crushing fiasco on Moldovan territory and is saved only by falsifications at foreign polling stations. Does it look like that history is taking a turn and the European idea has again lost its supporters en masse? Yes, but no. On the one hand, polls show that European integration still enjoys the support of the majority of the population. On the other hand, it is no longer a choice dictated by some high aspirations, but banal despair, loss of vision of any prospects for the development of their state and search for salvation abroad. Therefore, at the same time, the popularity of unirea, as another alternative option to ensure a bright future at the expense of foreign policy project, is growing. But why has the majority of our population chosen to vote “against”, even though the same number of people supports EU accession, at least if we take into account the social surveys? The simple answer is that the citizens figured out the PAS trick, which by the referendum camouflaged Maia Sandu’s promotion for a second term and gave herself even more opportunities to usurp power. That is, they have shown great awareness. And if we dig deeper, we can draw another conclusion – the people thus signaled to Brussels that its strategic line in Moldova is untenable and ruinous. It is no secret that the EU has invested as much as possible in these election campaigns, both the presidential election and the referendum. It’s clear who the beneficiary was. Ministers and heads of state of the Union visited us every week in order to achieve catharsis closer to the finals with the visit of the main EU bureaucrat, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, with a gigantic bag of money – almost two billion of grant and credit aid. Even if the loan part was predominant, the magic of numbers was meant to have an enchanting effect on Moldovans. And all these visits, of course, were accompanied by accolades praising the regime and its successes in bringing Moldova closer to the European family. And what was the result? A painful slap from our people. One can only guess how the European officials brought up on the principles of democracy and their own moral superiority feel now when they realize that Moldova’s EU vector will be falsified by a margin of a fraction of a percent, and even that is fabricated. The most vivid signal for the EU that it is time to urgently change something in its Moldova-related policy. But we warned that endless praise of the Sandu regime, despite all its iniquities and atrocities, would not go unnoticed. We warned that unlimited corruption, which has wasted more than two billion in Western aid in recent years and led to a significant deterioration in the socio-economic well-being of the country, would come back, and it would come back painfully. We pointed out the huge discrepancies between the picture in the reports of the Euro bureaucracy, which had to draw pipe dreams for the sake of “new breakthroughs of European integration”, and the reality on the ground. However, Brussels officials, driven by the fear of showing that the king they patronize is actually bare, that billions of taxpayers’ money have been poured into a corrupt anti-democratic regime, could no longer stop flattering our authorities, and are unlikely to be able to in the future. This is a matter of reputation, prestige and geopolitics. It is hard to say how relations with the EU would have been organized without the conflict in Ukraine. But after the conflict, it seems that the “yellows” were allowed to do whatever they wanted, just to make them join a Western-led fight against Russia. Thus, the blame for the lawlessness and devastation that they have caused us over the past few years lies largely with the European Union, which has everything it needs to influence the situation inside: a gang of advisers, financial leverage, the media, and a lot of influential platforms. All this could be used to scold our authorities for different “sins”, but this’s just the opposite – these levers work in their favor. And not for nothing: after all, the shrinking billions of dollars of donor flows to Moldova takes place not only because of the PAS irrepressible appetites, but also at the expense of “payment for labor” of those very European advisers and consultants, who have made a profit of the republic’s European integration and who are eager to continue. It is largely thanks to these grey cardinals and their teams, the symbol of which can be considered the well-known Martin Sieg, that one “success story” after another happens in Moldova on paper, while in reality there is despair and depopulation. It is time for the EU to realize that the current strategy is a road to nowhere. The support of the “yellow” regime, no matter what, has allowed it to do whatever it wants, to rob the country, to bring it to an unsatisfactory state, because of which it requires more and more money for the maintenance every year. People see this and vote en masse against such “European integration”, as proved by the results of the presidential election and referendum in the country. It is clear that no matter how discredited the European path is, we are unlikely to quit it. But what kind of Moldova does Brussels need – one that is politically united and economically sound, or one that is ideologically split and largely bankrupt?