Moldova’s first President Mircea Snegur dies at 83
Weekly Roundup September 15, 2023
Moldova’s first President Mircea Snegur dies at 83
Mircea Snegur, who served as the first President of an independent Moldova from 1990 to 1997 passed away at the age of 83 on Wednesday. The former President served through the time of independence, the building of a nation and the challenges of the 90s. Writing about his passing President Sandu said:
"I learned with deep sadness that Mircea Snegur, the first president of the Republic of Moldova, died this night. Mr. Snegur lived in historical times and had an essential role in promoting the independence, freedom and sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova. Mircea Snegur will remain in our memory as the man who stood at the cradle of Independence of the Republic of Moldova.
The President has declared September 16th as a day of national mourning. Today there will be a wake at Nativity Metropolitan Cathedral and tomorrow will be his funeral which will start at the Palace of the Republic.
Political Roundup
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of the main political stories of the week:
Tensions in the cabinet? This week Prime Minister Recean publicly responded to rumors that have been circulating over the past few months that he will be forced out and replaced with Minister of Infrastructure Andrei Spinu sometime in the fall. The Prime Minister said that these rumors were being manufactured and deliberately spread and that they are “lies.” In followup questions the Prime Minister asserted that he had strong support from the PAS Party and President. He also said that rumors that he was forced (by PAS) to take Andrei Spinu back into the cabinet last spring after initially dismissing him were false and that he brought him back of his own accord. Earlier on September 13th the Prime Minister asked Minister Spinu to present a full infrastructure development plan to the government for the next 9 quarters by September 14th. He brought this up in the interview noting that Minister Spinu has to present this plan and execute on it… and that if he doesn’t "we will return to discussing reshuffles." The public discussion of reshuffle rumors, as well as the thinly veiled threat, are likely to only increase speculation about Mr. Spinu’s political future.
Ministry of Infrastructure presents an action plan. Per the Prime Minister’s request Minister Spinu presented his 9 quarter plan on September 14th, one day after being requested to do so by the Prime Minister. From public reporting it appears that the plan is short on detail. The Minister says that the first priority will be road construction with a goal of modernizing all the roads across the country. Additionally the Ministry will focus on modernizing rail and port operations to accommodate higher speed travel and larger capacities. The plan also envisions connecting all communities to running water by 2030. Finally, the Minister proposed building a new airport terminal over the next 2 years to accommodate expected increases in air traffic. The announcement noted budget difficulties, particularly citing the annual budget for road construction is 500 million lei ($27.8 million dollars) and noting that around $7 billion dollars will be needed to modernize all the country’s roads. The Minister stressed the need to “get closer to the EU” to secure funding for all these goals.
President Sandu laid out the stakes of the local elections for regions and towns saying:
“Now it is up to the citizens not to allow themselves to be manipulated. They must understand that if they want the villages and towns in which they live to develop well, European mayors must be elected. Mayors who can attract European money and manage this money, achieve a standard of living like in Europe. Because European money or other money will not go to representatives of criminal groups. People should know this,”
Igor Dodon called this statement “blackmail,” insinuating that the national government will make spending allocations on the outcome of the election. In reality, local mayors regularly apply for EU grant funding for projects which does not go through the national government. The President was (correctly) pointing out that representatives of the Shor Party, or other sanctioned and criminally convicted persons may have trouble accessing these funds.
Former Gagauzian Bashkan Irina Vlah releases a book titled "My profession is politics." Based on reviews published in the press, it appears to be a fairly typical politician’s book stressing her humble upbringing, challenges overcome, political successes and the values that she lives by. 1000 copies of the book were printed in Romanian and Russian with the financial support of a Turkish textile company. Books like this are almost cliche in many countries as politicians prepare for new campaigns. In Moldova this is much more unusual and highlights Vlah’s political savvy and likely future ambitions.
Moves in Education Reform. Recently appointed Minister of Education Dan Perciun has brought education reform much more into the spotlight over the last month, particularly by focusing attention on the need to pay teachers more and invest in retention and training. We are now seeing some reform announcements as the government approved this week the merger of 2 trade schools in the north of Moldova and 2 in the south. Schools that have too few students to function independently are being identified and paired with other local institutions for mergers. The Parliament also approved amendments to the Education Code which would give the Ministry of Education broad powers to fire and replace the heads of district educational departments who have already served more than 4 years, or who were appointed without a public hiring process. These amendments have been suspended by the Constitutional Court while they evaluate complaints made by opposition parties.
Big names announce runs for municipal council. Igor Dodon announced that he would head the Socialist Party list for the Chisinau municipal council. Asked why the former president would be running for city council Mr. Dodon said that it was the decision of the party. In Balti, Renato Usati announced that he would also be running for the municipal council on this list of his party “Nash Party.” Explaining his decision he said that he plans to stand for parliamentary elections and so won’t run for mayor since he does not intend to be there for the whole term. Service in a municipal council is important, but not at all high profile. Mr. Usati’s move may be tactical, but it is hard to see Mr. Dodon’s as anything but a very low point in his political career.
Bashkan Hutsel has announced the construction of a theme park dubbed “GagauziyaLand” (after Shor’s earlier “Orheiland” project). This project joins a long list of others announced by the Bashkan that have no clear funding sources.
A Judge has refused prosecutors’ requests to maintain pre-trial “judicial control” for Igor Dodon. Mr. Dodon was previously prohibited from leaving the country and can now travel as he pleases. The former president noted that he has no plans to leave Moldova.
Security and International Affairs
In past weeks President Sandu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been working to solidify support for Moldova’s EU ambitions via bilateral meetings and statements of support from members of the block. Following such initiatives the Italian Parliament passed a strong statement of support for Moldova’s future in the EU joining various other countries that have leant their support. While visiting the Netherlands President Sandu not only got statements of support, but the country also decided to name a variety of Tulip after the Moldovan President.
At the same time, relations with Russia continue to deteriorate. On September 13th Moldovan border police expelled Vitaly Denisov, the director of Russian state news outlet “Sputnik” from Moldova and banned him from re-entering for 10 years. Explaining the reasoning, government spokesman Daniel Voda said:
“The authorities will not allow the spread of fake news. The institution that this citizen belongs to is constantly engaged in information attacks, lies, propaganda and disinformation. We have a clear message - we protect the interests of Moldovan citizens. We must not allow ourselves to be divided or the country weakened by propaganda or malicious information. It depends on each of us, on the whole society, regardless of political affiliation or the language we speak,”
Mr. Denisov was picked up by border police and escorted directly to the airport without the opportunity to pack his things or take his pets. Sputnik has been banned in Moldova since the beginning of the war but the Moldovan Sputnik news site has continuously tried to evade the ban by creating new domains and forcing the security services into a game of whack-a-mole.
The Socialist party stated that it stands in “solidarity with the journalists from the Sputnik Moldova agency,” and the Shor affiliated “Renaissance Party” also condemned the move.
The Russian government called this step another “unfriendly action” and accused Moldova of a “purge of the internal information field.” They also stated that Moldova "does not understand free speech." Adding to the statements reflecting Russia’s “unique” worldview the director of Russia Today, Kremlin Propagandist Margarita Simonyan, responded by saying that “Moldova will be free. Not right now, but it will happen."
Being lectured on free speech and freedom from Russia has an obvious irony. But the “Not right now, but it will happen” further highlights Russia’s ambitions for Moldova, and recognition that the country is out of direct reach… for now.
Other Security News
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of other important security stories of the week:
Prime Minister Recean calls for public communications and discussions about NATO membership. The Prime Minister joins President Sandu and Vice Speaker of Parliament Mihai Popsoi as outspoken voices calling for raising public awareness about the defensive alliance and combating misinformation. Moldovans overwhelmingly oppose joining NATO but also have numerous misconceptions about what the alliance is. On the topic the Prime Minister stated:
“The population does not know what NATO means. We need these discussions, we need to explain what collective security is, explain the meaning of security, understand which countries can afford the necessary investments in security and which cannot,”
Rosh Hashanah pilgrimages begin, additional airport restrictions have been put in place. From September 11 - 22 only passengers with tickets will be allowed in the Chisinau airport. This is due to an expected influx of 30,000 Israeli pilgrims who will be crossing Moldova into Ukraine to travel to the small town of Umam. Local Jewish groups are coordinating transit, lodging and food including the preparation of 5000 kosher sandwiches each day. Over 2000 busses will provide transit to the pilgrimage site which will be provided by Ukraine. Attaining Moldova’s, and especially Ukraine’s, cooperation with organizing the pilgrimage was a major Israeli foreign policy goal of the last few months. It appears that Ukraine agreed to let pilgrims in and assist with the facilitation of the visit after initial objections rooted in security concerns.
MallDova evacuated on September 13th due to a bomb threat. After searching the mall police found no suspicious objects and are now looking for the caller. After waves of daily bomb threats last year against numerous institutions, this event highlights the relative calm that returned to Moldova after the unexplained threats suddenly stopped.
PAS MP Oazu Nantoi was summoned by the Transnistrian Ministry of State Security (MGB) for questioning in an unspecified criminal case. The PAS MP has stated that he has no plans on traveling to the breakaway region and has no idea what case they might be referring to.
In Cornesti, someone spray-painted “Glory to Ukraine” and “Russian Tank - go Fuck yourself” on a WW2 T34 tank monument. The local mayor asked the police to look into it and the police promised to repaint the monument. The Russian government did not take such a low key approach and has announced that the Investigative Committee of Russia will open a criminal investigation to find out who “vandalized” the tank.
Economics and Infrastructure
As the harvest season approaches much economic news in Moldova is focused on the plight of farmers who are continuing to experience extremely difficult conditions. The association “Farmer’s Power” highlighted the losses to drought in a statement saying:
“Due to the drought in July-August, farmers in the Cahul, Cantemir, Bessarabian and Leova regions harvest from 0.4 to 1 tons of sunflower per hectare. Huge corn losses are expected. Farmers are in desperate condition, and the small harvest of the second group has further aggravated the crisis situation. The worst thing is that prices for agricultural products remain low, they are well below production costs. The bankruptcy of thousands of farmers is inevitable,”
An expert who spoke to Moldova Matters explained that while crop yields, primarily in the export cash crops of wheat, corn, sunflowers, oats and sugar-beats, are bad in 2023, they are not worse than in 2020 or 2022. The primary issue facing farmers is a clogged supply chain that prevents almost any export crops from getting out of the country. Previously, most crops would have been exported via the port of Odesa which is now closed. Moldova’s port of Gurgulesti is operating at capacity and rail links are carrying Ukrainian grain. This has raised costs and increased wait times at the border exponentially which threatens the export of any refrigerated products. Farmers also deal with import problems especially around fertilizer. In a normal year, the expected crop yields would be terrible and the import issues very challenging. But this year, the inability of farmers to export or locally sell their crops has become the primary challenge.
The Minister of Agriculture continues to meet with farmers to discuss support options. This week the Ministry announced that producers of Sunflower oil will also be eligible for distribution of free diesel fuel. Farmers continue to say that this is not enough. In an embarrassing hot mic incident, Minister Bolea disparaged a journalist’s question on the topic turning to his subordinate and saying of the question "This is fucked, this is fucked up." The Minister later apologized for his words.
Other Economic Headlines
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of other important economics and infastructure stories of the week:
Moldova projects 2.5% GDP growth in 2023. Last year Moldova’s GDP decreased by 5.9%. Minister Alaiba noted that many large foreign investors are waiting out the war and unwilling to commit investments to Moldova in the current state of uncertainty. Talking about the projections generally he said:
“We are just coming out of the recession. Our current forecast is that we will end 2023 with growth of about 2.5%. This is not enough. We need more,”
Moldova’s Public Property Agency is looking for an appraiser to value the land of the Republican Stadium which is to be sold to the US Embassy. After multiple tenders seeking an appraiser which found no bidders, the agency increased the price for the work to 400,000 lei. The US Embassy is in a slow process of acquiring the land to build a new, modernized Embassy complex.
GazProm is not happy with the results of Moldova’s independent audit on debts. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on Moldova to "avoid politicizing" the issue of energy. Energy Minister Parlikov noted that GazProm’s normal threats of retaliation, cutting off energy supplies, would only hurt Transnistria now as Moldova has broken free of natural gas supplies from Russia. Experts have also noted the limited tools that GazProm has because any legal action or arbitration would be between GazProm and their subsidiary MoldovaGaz. The company could effectively sue itself but not force Moldova into paying the subsidiary’s debts. All in all, without the threat of a gas cutoff the Kremlin has far fewer tools to leverage in the energy relationship.
The United States Department of State commented on the audit outcome saying:
“The United States welcomes the completion of an independent audit commissioned by the Government of Moldova to examine Gazprom’s debt claims against Moldovagaz. It is not surprising that Gazprom could not justify the exorbitant bill that, in Russia’s opinion, should have been paid by the Moldovan people,”
“Moldova has never been as well prepared for winter as it is now. I want to emphasize that this was not that difficult to achieve. Yes, it was expensive, yes, from a political point of view it did not look very good. What was needed was determination, honesty and clear decisions. I repeat once again, we have never been so well prepared for winter, we have never been so energetically independent from Russia, from Transnistria - it doesn’t matter. Now we are independent,”