Political pundits in Chisinau have for some time now been talking
\nabout the end of an era. Six years after taking power, against the backdrop of
\nstreet protests that put en end to the long pro-Russian, Communist governance
\nof 2001 – 2009, the three-party government alliance, an avowed pro-western
\ncoalition, is more divided than ever. Seriously discredited by top-level
\ncorruption scandals and the increasing degradation of the living standards, the
\npower in the Republic of Moldova, a state ranked as the poorest in Europe by
\nmany specialist classifications, has now to take the test of a no-confidence
\nmotion tabled by the leftist opposition. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
42 Socialist and Communist deputies
\nare calling for the resignation of the Liberal Democrat PM Valeriu Strelet, who
\nis accused of defending his former party chief, Vlad Filat, now arrested on
\ncorruption charges. The deputies also accuse Strelet of being involved in
\ndubious affairs himself. The Socialist leader, Igor Dodon, one of the Kremlin’s
\nfavorites, also calls for the resignation of the country’s President Nicolae
\nTimofti and for holding early elections, meant to reshuffle the administration
\nfrom top to bottom. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In turn, the former Moldovan Communist president, Vladimir
\nVoronin, has suggested the setting up of a government of technocrats to be
\nsupported by a large parliamentary majority, but without the participation of
\nthe Liberal Democratic Party. For the no-confidence motion to pass, another 9
\nvotes are needed besides the half plus one of the votes of the 101 MPs. But,
\naccording to Radio Romania’s correspondents to Chisinau, after Filat’s arrest,
\ndisagreements within the governing alliance, self-styled as the Alliance for European
\nIntegration, have become more visible, and the Democrats and Liberals, partners
\nof the Liberal Democratic Party, started to vote in Parliament alongside the
\nSocialists and Communists on punctual issues. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the speaker of
\nMoldova’s Parliament, Andrian Candu, announced his party would decide next week
\nif they would support or not the no-confidence motion against the government
\nthey are part of. Given the context, the Moldovan mass media has taken the
\nopportunity to remind of the Communist past of some of the party’s top figures
\nsuch as Marian Lupu, Dumitru Diacov, who was frequently accused of being a
\nmember of the Soviet secret services and Vlad Plahotniuc, the oligarch
\nconnected with the mafia and considered the de facto leader of the Democratic
\nParty.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Invested as PM this summer, Valeriu Strelet labels the no-confidence
\nmotion against his cabinet as an attempt to politically and economically
\ndestabilize the Republic of Moldova and to divert it from its European
\nintegration path. Romania is concerned with the worsening political situation
\nin the neighboring Republic of Moldova, to which it has recently granted a loan
\nworth 150 million euros. The PM Victor
\nPonta has warned that Romania will continue to support the Republic of Moldova
\nif and only if they have a pro-western government. The breaking of the
\nalliance, the Romanian PM has also warned, could create advantageous
\nopportunities for the Russian Federation, which it will not fail to take. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Moldovan pro-European Government says it is backed by a parliamentary majority that is getting more fragile by the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":65753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[28950,38200,29570,29284,38113],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-65752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-corruption","tag-moldovan-coalition","tag-moldovan-government","tag-no-confidence-motion","tag-pm-valeriu-strelet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n