Maia Sandu’s Visit to France: Hype and Futility

Anton ŠVEC

The president’s much-touted trip to Paris was more of a media and propaganda than a practical meaning

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is facing difficulties in domestic politics and an unprecedented loss of his country’s position in its former colonial possessions, especially in Africa and overseas territories, is now clearly claiming leadership in European affairs. The head of the Fifth Republic, with a mandate until 2027, took the initiative to convene an emergency security summit in Paris about a month ago amid snap elections in Germany. In addition, Macron regularly makes “peculiar” statements on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which aim to consolidate the sprawling European Union around liberal values and the Russian threat. The topic of EU enlargement is peripheral to him, but France is interested in maintaining its influence in the candidate countries, using them as a “cordon sanitaire” against Russia. The EU bureaucracy, drowning in scandals and applying double standards (the most illustrative example is the difference in attitude towards elections in Georgia and Romania), is not ready to transform itself in line with the trend set by the US and favorably received by some member states. Moving on inertia, the EU is stubbornly defending its positions and investments in candidate states, including Moldova, which was recently visited by the head of the European Council Antonio Costa. To support the PAS regime, the EU allocated funding to partially offset the most catastrophic consequences of the energy crisis and decided to deploy the European Parliament’s liaison office in Chisinau. According to Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan, the office in the capital will serve the entire Eastern Partnership region, will familiarize the residents with the advantages of European integration and support measures for Moldova, and will fight against Russian disinformation. On Tuesday, the cabinet decided to grant Moldova the 1.9 bln euro aid package promised by the European Commission head as an instrument of growth and reforms. Brussels is not ready to give up Moldova, which in many ways sets the agenda, as long as the region does not have the attention of Moscow and Washington, with their focus on the Ukraine deal. Chisinau itself is seeking full membership in the union by the end of the decade, at least this is the official line of PAS and Maia Sandu. This is where they have found an ally with a very loud voice and good PR skills in the person of Emmanuel Macron. Sandu stayed in Paris for two days and brought back three signed agreements – on energy efficiency (Moldova will receive 30 million euros for this purpose), on combating disinformation and on social protection of our citizens living in France. The actual “value” of these documents is minimal: the money allocated for the Moldovan energy sector will not be enough even to compensate for the terminated USAID projects. The fight against disinformation in recent years has been a kind of ritual on which budgetary and donor funds are spent uncontrollably. Apparently, the Patriot Centre and other EU and NATO information points functioning in Chisinau are failing to cope with their tasks, since the opening of the European Parliament’s liaison office required a separate bilateral agreement with the French. The latest agreement on social protection is only concerned with the interests of the diaspora and will have no impact on the situation inside the republic. At the same time, Maia Sandu took advantage of the Paris meetings to make her usual series of harsh anti-Russian statements. She accused Moscow of breaking its promises to withdraw troops, of supplying gas under the existing contract, of importing Moldovan products on the basis of existing trade agreements and, of course, of interfering in the elections. In the public rhetoric of the president, there was room for curtsies to France which supports Chisinau “in difficult times”, and for another reference to European integration intentions: “We share the vision of a united and strong Europe, where every country is free to decide its own destiny. Moldova is already contributing to this common endeavor through its commitment to peace and democracy, as well as its solidarity with Ukraine”. The Moldovan-French business forum that took place yesterday yielded no significant results either. France is not a significant trade partner for us, importing mainly alcohol, tobacco, agricultural and canned products, foodstuffs, as well as textiles produced in Transnistria. Moldova is waiting for French investments in the airport, railway and public transport, but so far there are no specifics even on paper. The French Development Agency is a rather modest institution compared to USAID which recently cancelled 83% of its projects. So, Maia Sandu’s visit to Paris was more of media and propaganda rather than practical nature. Idle assurances were supposed to create an illusion of qualitative and voluminous cooperation, but the EU bureaucracy, not France in its national capacity, provides real assistance and patronage to Moldova and the PAS regime. This issue resembles Emmanuel Macron’s constant signals about military support for Ukraine, about solidarity, about sending peacekeepers, when it turns out that Scandinavian and Baltic countries, Poland, Germany and even Spain help Kyiv more than France.