Moldova’s Government Is Flying Blind

The current generation of Moldova’s political leadership is clearly failing to rise to the challenges of the times, lacking any coherent plan and resorting to chaotic, ill-considered actions amid the country’s steadily deteriorating socio-economic situation

Semyon ALBU, RTA: And I said that one of the goals of the tax reform would be to raise additional funds for the military, which in our supposedly neutral country has now become one of the main pillars of the state, something that can no longer be economized on. Maia Sandu has now confirmed my assessment, stating that if people are unwilling to pay the full VAT rate on gas and electricity, they cannot expect the authorities to build a fully-fledged air defense system either. Of course, I would first like to see those people who supposedly cannot live without seeing a top-notch air defense system in Moldova. I was under the impression, and opinion polls seem to confirm it, that our citizens are much more concerned with decent wages, reasonable utility tariffs, good infrastructure, honest government, and things of that sort. Reliable protection of the country’s airspace, if it even featured on the list, would clearly rank somewhere in the thirties or forties at best. And besides, before the Sandu-PAS regime, who outside military circles ever seriously thought about the need to strengthen Moldova’s air defense? That in itself says quite a lot. The fact that the authorities are pouring ever more money into the military sphere, contrary to public opinion and common sense, and are even prepared to invoke this when raising taxes on the population, is merely one symptom of the administrative madness that has taken hold of the ruling regime. Personally, it increasingly reminds me of a headless chicken that, having lost its brain, has lost the ability to think and now makes countless chaotic, pointless movements that serve neither purpose nor benefit. The situation that has taken shape is, perhaps, only natural for a government that took the reins of the country from the outset with the aim of destroying rather than building. Managers groomed in Western foundations, grant-making organizations, and other similar structures were prepared for one specific purpose: to put an end, once and for all and regardless of the cost, to Moldova’s Russian-Soviet past and shift the country into the Western sphere of influence. And for the sake of that goal, they are prepared to tolerate any hardships and problems this may create for ordinary citizens. Ultimately, people who can order a hundred dollars’ worth of wine and oysters for an ordinary dinner are hardly likely to lose much sleep over pensioners born back in the Soviet Union, a country so despised by the “yellow ones”, who are expected to survive for an entire month on a sum only two or three times larger. Over the past five years, the ruling regime has indeed gone to great lengths to sever traditional ties, above all with Russia. It did so to the applause of foreign partners, who granted our leaders high-level audiences, lavished them with the warmest praise and words of support, and supplied them with tranches of financial assistance. Now, however, with the main goal handed down from above essentially achieved, the authorities appear to have lost their bearings and no longer know what to do next. First and foremost because Moldova is no longer of much interest to its high-level patrons, who regard it as a “secured” asset requiring no further significant investment, apart from military spending: the acquired outpost needs to be strengthened in preparation for a future war. One might think that PAS could now focus on domestic affairs, improve citizens’ welfare and raise living standards. But nothing of the sort has happened. The previous years of rule have left behind ruins: the demographic situation is appalling, the economy is slowly dying, the treasury is empty, and the public debt portfolio has swollen to indecent proportions. Frankly speaking, the authorities are at a loss and have no idea what to do. And, as if on cue, international upheavals are also raining down one after another. Of course, global turmoil is an objective factor over which we had no control whatsoever. But I am convinced that it is the ruling party’s responsibility that, by the time the ten-point geopolitical storm hit, Moldova found itself in the position of a flimsy little boat without oars, left entirely at the mercy of every wave and gust of wind. And, as I have already said, there no longer seems to be any willingness aboard the “large Western ship” to take us in tow or even throw us a lifeline. This time, it is, quite literally, “you’re on your own”. But someone born to destroy is, by definition, incapable of creating. Against the backdrop of all the crises unfolding today, PAS’ helplessness, weakness, lack of strategic thinking, and absence of any clear vision for the future have become obvious to everyone. The authorities have lost control of the situation, scrambling chaotically to plug the holes in the Moldovan boat, which is taking on water largely through their own fault. When one of the country’s top officials, speaking about its prospects, calls on people to pray that “the war in Iran ends and we have a mild winter”, well, we are in trouble. And this same level of planning and intellectual vision can be seen at virtually every level of the regime. Take the issue of utility bill compensation, for instance. At first, the authorities said there would be virtually no such support this year because, unlike in previous years, Western partners had categorically refused to provide funding for it. They managed to find €120 million for air defense, but somehow there was nothing available for the people. At the same time, utility tariffs are already soaring. Gas alone could see prices for households and businesses nearly double in the space of a single month. The relevant companies are also demanding sharp increases in heating and electricity prices. It has become clear that without support, many residents of the republic may simply be unable to “make it through” the coming winter. So, it appears that compensation payments will be provided after all, but doing so will require taking out expensive domestic loans. But that is only the beginning. It is already clear that not everyone will be receiving compensation. The government has come up with a clever list of all sorts of exclusions designed to narrow the pool of lucky recipients down to a bare minimum. For example, households that own a car no more than three years old will definitely be excluded. And, as the labor minister assured us, all recipients will be subjected to the most thorough checks. As if we had not already figured out that the authorities will do everything possible to ensure that as few people as possible can actually benefit from such a support measure. Inconsistency is evident not only when it comes to tariffs. The newly appointed prime minister is flitting back and forth like a weather vane between ideas of cutting the state apparatus and “leaving everything as it is”. Initially, even before taking office, trimming the bureaucratic fat from the body of the state was one of his top priorities. Then, after taking a look at the situation from the prime minister’s chair and seeing just how many verisoari, cumetri, nanasi, and other “good people” occupy cushy positions in various government agencies, he seemingly abandoned his original plan under the pretext that he had come to realize just how indispensable they all were. Now, however, with the financial situation tightening and tariffs rising alongside public discontent, Tofan has once again announced significant cuts to the bureaucratic caste as a populist move. At the same time, of course, he has created a new structure for himself, Moldova Project, with average monthly salaries running into tens of thousands of lei. Consistency all around. And that is how they operate across the board. They abandon firm energy supply contracts in order, supposedly, to save money by buying on the spot market, only to fall flat on their faces and return to negotiations on medium- and long-term contracts with major producers. Fixed prices, however, are unlikely to be on offer anymore. One year, the election year, they hand out 1,000 lei per schoolchild to help families prepare for the school year, swearing that this is by no means an electoral handout but rather “care for children”. The following year, they categorically refuse to do the same. As for scrapping part of the VAT or excise duties on fuel, whose price is smashing through every psychological threshold, the answer is either an outright “no” or a vague “we’ll think about it”. And when it comes to the country’s future as a whole, it was first about independent European integration in 2022-2023. Then, once the process stalled after a token amount of progress, there was suddenly a “Plan B” in the form of unirea. The only thing that remains consistent is the legal and broader lawlessness in everything the regime does. The scandal over one of the president’s cousins, who was allegedly given a fictitious position at a state institution with a million-lei salary, had barely died down when another one took the helm of the public broadcaster following, without a doubt, a “fair competition” process: Ecaterina Covali, who, for her part, categorically denies any family ties to Sandu. But there is nothing surprising about that. Our “yellow chicken” may be headless, but its instinct to feed at the expense of the state budget has clearly not gone anywhere.