Weekly Roundup: A Prize Money Controversy, EU Chief Negotiator Named and More
January 29, 2024
Welcome back to Moldova Matters! Last week we took an in-depth look at the biggest story of the week, Foreign Minister Popescu’s resignation and proposed replacements. We also ran a copy of my article for Euractiv looking at the expected use of Russian disinformation in 2024. So today is catch up day. Here are all the other important stories making headlines in Moldova in the past week.
Controversy over President Sandu’s Prize Money
Last week we wrote about President Maia Sandu being honored as the first recipient of the newly created “Timisoara Award for European Values.” The award, which includes a 30,000 euro cash prize, was given by the Timisoara city council which voted to award it to the Moldovan President. Initially coverage mostly focused on the good news about Moldova’s head of state being thus honored. But over the last week this has taken a turn as the question of what will happen to the money still hangs in the air.
PAS MP Olesea Stamate previously publicly stated that the president cannot accept this money as it falls under the law on gifts which require things given to politicians over a certain (low) value to be turned over to the state. The Presidential Administration referred the question to the National Anti-Corruption Center NAC for an opinion on whether this “prize” was in fact a “gift” and what the law said.
This week the NAC responded stating that the legislation on “gifts,” as well as other legislation governing integrity for public officials, say nothing about “prizes” and therefore the president can accept it. The Presidential Administration then clarified that the prize has not been accepted yet but will be once the legal questions are ironed out - after which time the money would be President Sandu’s to do with as she wishes.
A spokesmen for the Presidential Administration further called out those criticizing the acceptance of this prize saying:
“The manipulation of terms to denigrate the institution of the presidency is a propaganda tool designed to weaken trust in institutions and society. Prizes are recognition of merit, and their awarding is a natural international practice. Even prime ministers and presidents of countries have received such awards,”
Now it is true that political opponents, especially the pro-Russian opposition and Ilan Shor have attempted to turn this prize into a scandal calling it a “bribe” or similar. But more and more experts and political commentators are calling attention to the dangerous precedent that this would set. Speaking to ZdG, Galina Bostan, president of the Center for Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC) called attention to this saying:
" if you admit this thing once, it will be repeated and under the pretext of prizes, money will be given for anything and anyone, including illegal party financing. If Timișoara can give cash prizes, why can't Moscow also, let's say. You can't even imagine what pandora's box opens, because any penny can be interpreted as prizes."
Other experts noted that this isn’t so much a legal issue but something that is becoming a political issue. More than one person interviewed by ZdG stated that if the President had simply stated that she will donate this money to a children’s NGO or something similar the whole thing would be done. Now it’s fueling news cycles of talk.
Political Blunder? or Something Else?
Most of the conversation has centered on how it’s been a bit politically tone-deaf for the presidency to not clarify what will happen to the money. It’s very possible that this has been due to “bad advice” and bad communications as multiple commentators quoted by ZdG suggest. This implies that after a lot of bad press the President will announce her intention to donate the money or otherwise not accept it. On the other hand, it’s possible that President Sandu intends to keep the prize money and is hoping that this will just be a “storm in a teacup” that will soon pass.
To be clear, there has been no credible suggestion that there is some impropriety or illegality around the prize itself. A city council in Romania dreamed up this new prize and picked Maia Sandu for the first recipient. That excludes the ideas of “bribery” or similar acts being talked up by Ilan Shor. Still, it is problematic for officials to accept prizes even if it’s not illegal as noted above. So what would make this worth the political damage?
Well, for one thing President Sandu has gone through a lot of money since she founded PAS and began her political career. When filling out her wealth declaration back in 2012 she declared around $160,000 in US bank accounts (earned from her time working at the World Bank), a 74.5 sq meter apartment in Chisinau and a 2007 Toyota RAV4 purchased used in 2012. In her most recent wealth declaration filed this month the President cited her same apartment, $300 in a US bank account, and 6000 MDL in a Moldovan account. That is after selling the Toyota this year for 8000 euros.
Clearly, being President of Moldova does not pay well. She cited 358,000 MDL in income last year made up of salary and travel allowances. This works out to around 22,000 MDL or $1240 / month. In terms of travel, Moldova is not like larger countries with presidential jets and cars. President Sandu flies economy, usually with only 1 or 2 staff. It’s very likely that the massive pace of travel in the past years has also meant out of pocket expenses.
So while we don’t know exactly what is going on with this conversation around the prize money, we do know one thing. President Sandu has gotten a lot poorer in office, in sharp contrast to past political leaders who got fabulously wealthy. We’ll follow up on this story when and if the presidency announces what will happen with the prize money.
Other Political News:
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of the other top political stories of the week:
Prime Minister Recean has clarified that the newly appointed Minister of European Affairs Cristina Gherasimov will be Moldova’s lead negotiator on EU accession. This was not officially stated during the appointments following Minister Popescu’s resignation, but we discussed it as the most likely possibility in last week’s article on the cabinet shakeup.
Mayor Ceban sues the government. The escalating spat between the mayor and pretty much all of the government continued this week after Mayor Ceban announced plans to sue the Ministry of Finance seeking 500 million lei in order to cover budget deficits caused by what he alleges are unfunded mandates from parliament. The mayor wants 50% of all taxes raised from people and companies in the city to go directly to him… which is basically a non-starter. The government responded saying “we’ll see you in court.” Additionally the mayor has announced a suit against parliament and the presidential administration seeking to overturn the firing of the former governor of the National Bank Octavian Armasu. It’s not clear what Ceban or the city’s interest is in this particular fight, but worth noting that Mr. Armasu was appointed by Plahotniuc, a fact salient enough to bring PAS and the Socialists together in dismissing him. The only real political constituency for starting a fight in support of Armasu is Plahotniuc’s former political party now called the PSDE. We’ve previously wrote about speculation that MAN and PSDE may work together in future elections.
Olesea Stamate is resigning from leadership of the Parliamentary Legal Committee on February 1st. Stamate will remain in parliament. Igor Grosu announced that he plans on making statements about reorganizing parliamentary committee structures, presumably replacing Stamate, next week. Stamate claimed that she is stepping down to spend more time with family.
Watchdog.md President Valeriu Pasa does not agree… at all. Valeriu Pasa of the highly respected organization Watchdog has for months been critical of Stamate. Addressing her resignation he stated that her “mission to sabotage justice reform and the fight against corruption has been successfully accomplished.” In part this references internal fights over justice reform within PAS where Stamate has frequently found herself at odds with Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Dragalin and others.
Prime Minister Recean has again leveled some “choice words” at judges considering major financial and corruption cases. He noted the blowback from the judiciary last time he publicly named and shamed judges, but stated he will continue and that saying it is not proper that he receive more blowback for statements than they do for their actions. The following is his statement on one of the cases related to the theft of the billion:
“I noticed the public reaction last time, but I will name names again. We have Judge Angela Catane, who ruled that the National Bank is civilly liable in a bank fraud case. This means that when Ion robs Vasily, the court sentences not Ion to return the stolen property, but Vasily’s family. This is completely unacceptable in a normal society,”
The People’s Ombudsman alleges political interference. Ceslav Panico, People’s Ombudsman for human rights announced that following a report from his independent institution he received 2 emails from 2 unnamed “leaders / ministers.” One of these emails proposed a meeting on the contents of the report seeking to correct the underlying situation. The second email rejected some of the conclusions of the report and requested alterations. The Ombudsman said that this was the first case of political interference in the workings of the office in 25 years and that he has appealed to the Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament and would only publish the names of the “leaders / ministers” if he didn’t get a satisfactory response. Following this, and amidst speculation about both the report and the identities of the individuals who were unnamed, Minister of Labor Alexei Buzu and Chief of the Inspectorate of Police Viorel Cernăuțeanu, announced they were the people being accused of interference. Minister Buzu had sent an email looking for a meeting to fix the underlying problems identified in the report, while Chief Cernăuțeanu had sent an email as well as an official letter from his office to the Ombudsman contesting some of the contents of the report. It then came out that the report centered on what the Ombudsman called a “suspicious suicide” at a pre-trial detention center in Cimislia. The case centered on a detainee who was found strangled in the cell bathroom. Police refused to open a criminal case into the matter "citing the absence of elements that would indicate torture, suicide or the influence of third parties in the death of the detainee." The Ombudsman’s office states that they ordered a monitoring process to be opened on the post death proceedings which was not. At the time of writing the Ombudsman’s office has confirmed that the Police Chief and Minister were the people called out and continues to allege political interference with his office. Chief Cernăuțeanu has emphasized that all communications were in legal and official channels and that he was simply asking for some revisions to sections that "denigrate the image" of him and his institution.
Security News and Transnistria
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of the other top security stories of the week:
The Moldovan Army and Police continue their high pace of exercises. Last week a contingent of US Marines came to Moldova to conduct trainings with police special forces on “anti-terror techniques.” Additionally the Moldovan army participated in exercises in Romania. Rumors have circulated that Moldova will host elements of NATO’s upcoming largest exercises since the end of the cold war. Moldova’s Minister of Defense clarified that this is false and misinformation. He also condemned as fake news rumors that F-16 fighter jets will be stationed in Moldova as part of their supply to Ukraine.
Transnistrian “leader” Vadim Krasnoselsky calls for a resumption of the 5+2 talks online. Previously Moldova, Russia and Ukraine have all stated that the talks on the resolution of the Transnistrian issue cannot continue in this format while the war rages. Moldova’s official position that the 1+1 (Moldova and Transnistria) talks are the only ones possible right now. At the same time the Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebryan tried to explain the somewhat ambiguous situation saying:
"There is actually no such format as “1+1”. This format follows from the “5+2” format. And everyone is present there as observers, the OSCE is present as a mediator and moderator of the meeting. Yes, the “5+2” format does not work and cannot work in these circumstances. It is difficult to say what will happen after the end of the war in Ukraine. There may be a complete reformatting of this format. There may be a different formula. There are different proposals that are still working proposals,”
Rally against the paying of customs taxes held in Transnistria. The rally was held on January 24th and pictures show a crowd that appeared quite large. Protestors held signs saying “Robbery of the people is not the way to Europe,” “No to the blockade, but to a healthy economy,” “Moldova, stop robbing the people of Transnistria” etc. Reporters have shown leaked documents from a Tiraspol university in which the rector called all employees to mandatory rally attendance, gave students a day off to attend and mandated that teachers rally their students. This follows fairly typical soviet style mass mobilization tactics which rely on state institutions and state controlled “trade unions” to turn out crowds.
TV8 Journalist Viorica Tataru was detained by Transnistrian intelligence services while covering the protest. The Moldovan Prosecutor's Office for Combating of Organized Crime and Special Cases reported that the journalist and her cameraman were approached by individuals who were "acting with force" and taken to detention in an unknown location. Prosecutors have opened a case against the Transnistrian authorities for kidnapping. The journalist and cameraman were released later the same day.
Transnistrian “authorities” have announced that they are enacting a law against “gay propaganda” modeled on the Russian state. Explaining it they stated:
"The state is faced with the task of protecting the younger generation from harmful influences, suppressing the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships and the denial of family values. The government has developed a mechanism to combat the manipulation of public consciousness."
On January 22nd Anna Mamei, chairwoman of the Tiraspol City Court, was refused entry at the Chisinau airport and deported. Mamei had flown from Yerevan to Chisinau and attempted to enter the country on her Transnistrian “passport.” Border police clarified that they do not accept this document but consider it supporting documentation when combined with a valid passport… which apparently Mamei did not provide. The Transnistrian authorities protested against this move.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico recently stated that transit of Russian gas to his country through Ukraine would continue in 2025. This announcement was made after a meeting he held with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Ukraine has denied information about Ukraine negotiating with Russia on gas transit beyond December 2024. The government left the door open somewhat saying that “Ukraine can talk to a European country about using its gas transmission network.” It’s important to note that even if a workaround is found, a “European country” is not a fitting description for Transnistria. Under this language the breakaway region will still lose its energy supply unless Moldova choses to support them in some way.
Economics and Infrastructure
Here’s a rapid fire roundup of the other top economic and infrastructure news of the week:
Moldova simplifies work permits for citizens of 20 countries. Citizens of countries in the EU, EFTA, Western Balkans, and South Caucasus, as well as the UK, USA, Canada, Turkey, Ukraine, South Korea, and Japan can now more easily work in Moldova. The new process allows working up to 90 days without a visa or residence permit. During that time the person can use their work contract to apply for a simplified residency program. This comes in the context of Moldova’s continuing labor shortages. The National Bureau of Statistics recently announced that between 2008 and 2022 the national labor force declined by 32%.
The EBRD has agreed to provide a 150 million euro loan to Moldova for road construction. The loan will fund the reconstruction of the Chisinau ring road and expansion to 4 lanes of traffic. It will also fund reconstruction of 85 km of highway between the Romanian border crossing at Leuseni to Chisinau and on to Dubasari (de-facto Transnistrian border).
Energy prices are set to begin falling. Energocom has announced they are preparing an electricity price production of 10%, potentially next month. MoldovaGaz similarly announced that prices are to be reduced by 12.5%.