Ion Sturza Urges Vasile Tofan to “Go Back to the Chainsaw”

Former Prime Minister Ion Sturza went from supporting Vasile Tofan’s government in the first days after his appointment to harshly criticizing the current prime minister and his cabinet. Commenting on the tax and customs policy bill for 2027 approved by the government on September 8, Ion Sturza made an unequivocal assessment: “I must admit that I was too optimistic when I expressed my view of the Moldovan economy. The figures that emerged from the budget adjustment, the anemic budgetary and fiscal reform, and the lack of consistency in the administrative-territorial reform make me think that everything is much more complicated, if not downright more confusing,” logos-press.md reports. In a subsequent social media post, the former prime minister explained the reasoning behind his unfavorable assessment. In his view, the current economic model does not generate nearly enough revenue to cover the state’s minimum expenditures. “We are taking on more and more loans, the deficit has reached 6% of GDP, and debt servicing has become one of the largest items of budget expenditure, at 6.5 billion lei. We have very little fiscal space left. We are already collecting more than 35% of GDP. Raising taxes is not only unpopular, but also directly affects consumption and economic growth,” Ion Sturza wrote. According to him, hopes for significant economic growth based solely on good intentions are illusory, as is the prospect of rapid EU integration accompanied by an automatic inflow of funds and grants. The former prime minister stressed that the current situation requires radical measures to prevent the country from ultimately falling into an economic abyss. “I think Vasile Tofan was too polite when he described the situation to us, and became ‘politically correct’ too quickly: insensitive, salary-devouring... He came to the same conclusion as everyone before him: no money? Let’s borrow it!” Ion Sturza wrote. “We must urge him to go back to the ‘chainsaw”. Not necessarily as a method of amputation, that sounds populist, but as a metaphor for radical change. We must reconcile expectations with reality. Inflation at 10%, astronomical energy tariffs, wage expectations and the external situation make this task extremely difficult”.