Loan to the Republic of Moldova
Romania is lending a hand to the Republic of Moldova, threatened by both economic collapse and political instability.
Bogdan Matei, 01.10.2015, 13:36
On Wednesday, in New York, at the UN General Assembly, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis met the PM of the Republic of Moldova, Valeriu Strelet, to discuss the loan granted by Bucharest to Moldova. On the same day, the government in Bucharest has granted a 150-million-Euro loan for five years, for a token interest rate. At the joint government session held by the two countries last week, PM Victor Ponta explained:
“They really need our help in this area. It is a project in which we have to be united, both the government and the opposition, for a truly national project.
Ponta added that Romanias fundamental duty was to aid the Republic of Moldova, lacking alternatives. He also said that the country risked reverting to the same situation as 70 years ago, with pro-Russian forces in control, in reference to the 1940 annexation by Stalins USSR of Moldova. The latest events in Chisinau seem to be in line with his worries. The Sunday anti-government protest organized by Socialists and pro-Moscow populists, brought out to the street 20,000 people who took over downtown, which most times in the last 25 years was the venue for protests in favor of the opposite political opinion.
The opposition pushes for Moldova to get closer to Moscow and join the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan customs union. On the other side, the three party government, made up of Liberal Democrats, Democrats, and Liberals, openly pro-European, has a feeble 51% majority, and was discredited after the worst political and financial scandal of the last 25 years of the republic. The central bank uncovered the fact that three financial institutions in Chisinau, making up for about a third of the countrys assets, gave out unreturned loans worth 1 billion dollars, the equivalent of 15% of the GDP. The transaction was signed right before the Parliament elections at the end of November 2014, in which the pro-European parties won very closely against pro-Russian opposition.
There are voices that say that the Republic of Moldova is headed for early elections, since the parties in power have neither the vision, nor the energy to change the situation radically.
