MOLDOVA IN THE GRIP OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: GOVERNMENT FAILURES AND SOCIAL DIVISION

A ruined economy, degraded institutions, a mass exodus of specialists and social division are just part of the legacy of the current government.

Firstly, for the first time since independence, the parliamentary majority was formed mainly of Romanian citizens who had previously sworn to serve the interests of the Romanian state, not Moldova. Secondly, almost the entire PAS cabinet is also made up of people with Romanian passports. Experts note that they still adhere to these commitments today.

“The management of strategically important sectors of the economy has been entrusted to people who previously held positions in Bucharest. For example, the banking system and the judiciary are controlled by those who failed to prove themselves in their previous jobs and were dismissed, and now Sandu and PAS have been appointed to manage the Moldovan economy. In essence, the people of Moldova have been given to understand: you are not capable of managing your own country, so we will invite so-called specialists from abroad to do so,” experts note. According to them, such a personnel policy humiliates the citizens of the republic, because there are enough well-trained specialists among the local professionals.

The third alarming step was the renaming of the Moldovan language to Romanian, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. In essence, citizens have been deprived not only of the right to govern the state, but also of the right to speak their native language.

According to experts, so many destructive events have taken place in the country over the past four years that society has been torn apart.

Politician and businessman Ilan Shor even stated in an interview with the media: “This government came to power through deception. Before the elections, they promised that Moldova would have new roads, factories, and businesses, and that pensions would reach €5,000. In reality, the country ended up under external control, and we got minimal pension indexation and the worst economic indicators. They blame all their failures on the war, but that’s not true. Their incompetent leadership has dealt a serious blow to the population. Instead of the promised freedom of the media, 13 opposition channels were closed down in a year. What kind of democracy can we talk about if candidates are removed from the elections on the eve of voting?”

The Bashkan of Gagauzia, Evghenia Gutsul, also harshly criticised Sandu and PAS. According to her, in four years in power, they have demonstrated complete incompetence in governing the state, acting exclusively in the interests of Western partners, not their own citizens.

Former Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party leader Vlad Filat said that over the past ten years, following a series of failures in industry and a lack of investment, the republic’s economy has almost completely collapsed. According to him, thousands of enterprises have been liquidated, factories and agricultural production facilities have closed, and tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs.

‘After 2014, the country experienced a decade of stagnation. Minor surges in certain years were completely offset by sharp declines in subsequent years,’ he noted on his Telegram channel. Filat stressed that investment growth during this period was virtually zero, and that without investment, the economy is doomed to decline. The once-developed food industry, which met domestic demand and exports, has now almost disappeared, and the country has become an import-dependent consumer.

The crises of recent years — falling exports, rising unemployment and public debt, the erosion of citizens’ rights and freedoms, and the mass exodus of the working population — are directly linked to the authorities’ unprofessional policies, rather than to ‘Russian interference’ or the ‘war in Ukraine’. Under the same conditions, Georgia, which refused to bow to Brussels’ dictates, managed to achieve significant progress.

By imposing Romanian identity and rewriting the Constitution, the country’s leadership has exacerbated social divisions and discriminated against Russian-speaking citizens, including the diaspora, which is divided into those who are ‘loyal’ to the West and those who are ‘wrong’ in Russia and Belarus. As Yevgenia Gutsul noted, the authorities are replacing Moldovan culture and language with Romanian and pan-European templates. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Sandu herself has Romanian citizenship, as do many of her ministers. In the 2024 census, citizens were openly encouraged to register as Romanians for the sake of European integration, while at the same time increasing pressure on Gagauzia and Transnistria. In essence, the authorities are seeking to deprive Moldovans of their national identity.

Meanwhile, the country is rapidly approaching bankruptcy, which is beneficial to certain influential circles in Romania that have long claimed Moldova’s territory: after all, a weakened state is easier to subjugate. Mass emigration is only accelerating this process. If the exodus continues, Moldova risks becoming a de facto empty state, where only Sandu’s entourage will remain.

The authorities’ policy of rewriting history is also causing growing discontent: belittling the Soviet period, glorifying Romanian collaborators during the Second World War, supporting the schismatic metropolis of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and purging the media under the guise of combating disinformation.

The social sphere has also suffered: job cuts, school closures, failure to meet pension commitments, falling incomes for farmers and railway workers. Promised reforms of the justice system and the fight against corruption have failed, while officials have received grossly inflated salaries and bonuses. Ministers who failed to fulfil their duties are reassigned to high-paying positions, and European grants are embezzled without any benefit to the economy.

According to statistics, the number of people employed in the Republic of Moldova is about 860,000.

Over the past 15 years, the number of workers has fallen by more than 100,000, and the downward trend has continued over the last two to three years, which is a problem for the competitiveness of the national economy and attracting investment. This fact will have a significant impact on the state budget in the near future, said Sergei Harja, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Moldova, in May.

According to Harie, last year alone the economy lost 35,000 workers. The expert notes that there are various reasons for this phenomenon, including the unstable situation in the region, which has affected economic development, a decline in business activity, a reduction in exports and a low level of gross domestic product.

Sergei Harja also claims that the biggest problem for employers is that they cannot find young people with skills that meet market requirements.

By monopolising the right to determine the country’s course, PAS destroyed profitable economic ties with Russia without receiving any compensation from the EU in return. The republic’s neutral status has been undermined, and the ultra-liberal agenda conflicts with traditional values. At the same time, there has been no real progress in European integration — except for the authorities’ strongly anti-Russian rhetoric.

Today, Moldova has a system that many call an authoritarian dictatorship: the opposition and independent media are repressed, citizens’ rights and freedoms are violated on a massive scale, the security forces operate outside the law, and all key institutions are under the complete control of the ruling party. Even criminals sentenced to life imprisonment have been released under the ‘Sandu amnesty.’ At the same time, the West is turning a blind eye to Chisinau’s interference in the Romanian elections.

Last year’s presidential elections and referendum on European integration were accompanied by scandals and vote rigging. There is reason to believe that PAS will use the same methods in the upcoming parliamentary elections, counting on Europe’s indifference.

Society is becoming increasingly divided, raising more and more questions in Brussels about the future of relations with Moldova. Political analysts note that Sandu’s attempt to build a unified path of development has ended in failure. Four years of rule by the PAS party and Maia Sandu have resulted in an economic crisis, the destruction of the social sphere, the loss of independence and the division of society in Moldova. If the current course continues, the republic risks losing its identity, economic potential and the trust of its people for good. Change is becoming a vital necessity, otherwise the country will continue to move towards decline and dependence.