• We welcome the increased attention of our European friends, from EPP and EU institutions, towards RM, manifested in the last year through an unprecedented political and financial support;
• At the same time, we believe that the enthusiasm of Europeans is based on a comparison exercise, and not on concrete achievements of the current governance;
• In other words, as interpreted by Westerners the current power is better by contrast than the former communist governance, not by itself, by its concrete achievements;
• The one who created this huge advantage is the precisely Vladimir Voronin, who by refusing to reform the party, remained a scarecrow for Europe, being a comparison term that is extremely advantageous for the Liberals in power;
• The whole story of European dialogue and openness towards Moldovan authorities during the last year is explained by their fear of the “ghost of communism”;
• Hence the temptation of European decision makers to be more concessive than they might have been regarding the EIA governance;
• Objectively speaking, what the present governance may count as concrete achievements during this year, there are two distinct realities, none of them being the results of merit as such of the EIA;
• It is about two new private television stations, as well as intensification of the dialogue between Moldova and EU;
• During this time none of significant political or economic reform was accomplished, that would bring Moldova closer to EU standards;
• The only area in which the current power has excelled was the pro-Western rhetoric and, symmetrically, anti-Communist one;
• Visit of Mr. Wilfried Martens was a manifestation of the intention of EPP leadership to support LDPM and personally its leader in these elections;
• The declared intention of President Martens to support in the near future accession the LDPM’ accession to EPP is perfectly statutory, and CDPP cannot opposed it;
• Mr. President Martens even named a date when LDPM would get the status of EPP observer member, precisely 16th of December 2010;
• As an EPP observer member CDPP remains a loyal and honest partner of European colleagues;
• But I consider it’s my duty to launch a public warning to colleagues from our political family to refrain from committing an error that can cause serious damage to the image of EPP and European institutions as a whole in our country;
• Generosity, nobility and openness of the President Martens for our country is admirable;
And yet, I feel obligated to summarize some fundamental elements that made me decide to take a public attitude towards the current situation;
• Republic of Moldova remains a country monitored by the Council of Europe, therefore, with deficiencies in the functioning of democratic institutions and observance of human rights;
• LDPM is the main device of the current governance, and the Government is the one to ensure the democratic, fair and legal framework of these elections;
• Given that it is not known yet what will be the opinion of international observers on the current electoral process, particularly those representing the OSCE and CoE, to credit the Government in white is at least a risky step;
• I would like to recall some relevant moments in our relationship with the EPP;
• On December 8-10, 2009, within the EPP Congress in Bonn, I had the opportunity to welcome the presence of Prime Minister Filat at that forum;
• We hoped that the proximity with EPP will result in a change of this politician’s behaviour and will actually determine him to join our political family’ values and political;
• But after I noticed that Filat governance stays on the same spot regarding the democratic reforms and sinks in intrigues, re-tailoring the law and serious cases of corruption, I suggested European colleagues not to rush with LDPM admission in EPP, but to wait for election results, after which one may draw the line and judge the quality of governance, as well as LDPM’ performance;
On 18th of March this year, within the Working Group nr. 3 meeting, headed by Mrs Corien Wormann-Kool, in presence of Chairman Mr. Martens, I advocated for postponing the accession invitation to LDPM;
• I’ve brought all the necessary arguments and finally my suggestion was taken into account;
• On May 27 Mr. Martens visits Moldova at the invitation of PM Filat;
• And on that occasion I discreetly expressed my reserves;
• I mention that in both cases i did not public any information about the critical objections expressed collegially in a close format to Filat personally and to LDPM in general;
• Now I found it fitting to give a public warning in the hope that I will be heard;
• Major mistakes and shortcomings of the EIA Governance, of which the basic piece LDPM was, are the following:
• The violent events of April 7 have not been elucidated. The main organizer of those demonstrations that resulted in hundreds wounded, several casualties and destruction worth of over one billion lei, is Filat personally;
• It is Vladimir Filat who signed the request submitted to the town hall, whereby he committed to ensure the peaceful, democratic and legal framework of those actions;
• Precisely Vladimir Filat, along with other leaders of the current governance, has publicly and insistently incited the crowds to violence, on the eve of that fateful day;
• As a pretext for those protests served an alleged falsification of the elections held on April 5, 2009;
• Immediately after the disaster of April 7-8 was consumed Filat personally accused the former communist governance, as well as CDPP, including our youth organization “New Generation”, of organising those provocations, molestation of hundreds of policemen and destruction of the houses of Presidency and Parliament;
• During a year of EIA governance, neither the parliamentary committee led by former LDPM member Vitalie Nagacevschi nor Prosecutor General, nor MIA, nor IIS, under the control of current power, have proved the falsification of elections, neither they were able to identify the organisers of those crimes;
• The investigation was one sided, being followed only the policemen who exceeded their mandate and committed abuses, mistreatment and even torture;
• Unquestionably, the policemen who have violated the mandate must be held liable;
• But, obviously, those about 300 policemen who were aggressed with no reason, beaten by criminals and left disabled should benefit of the protection of the rule of law;
• The guilty ones for assaulting the police, devastation and setting in fire the Presidency and Parliament, for the destruction and theft of state assets have not been investigated and remained unpunished;
• The reason for this is clear: if the perpetrators filmed and documented by law enforcement bodies would be investigated, they would testify who put them on track, and the traces lead towards the cabinets of the current power;
Note that during this year none of European institutions or authorities have urged the liberal governance in Chisinau to undertake an accurate, complete and transparent investigation on April 7;
• The current governance assaulted on the foundations of constitutional democracy by repeated attempts to change and adapt the norms of Basic Law and procedures of electing the head of state to the power’s interests of the moment;
• The failed referendum of September 5, which was preceded by chopping the procedure of organizing the constitutional referendum, the status of which was changed from consultative into deliberative and the validation threshold was decreased from 50% to 33%, was the most eloquent expression of undemocratic and authoritarian character of the current power;
• After the failure of the experiment of September 5, none critical voice was heard from the West, which would disprove the anti-democratic practices of Filat Government;
• In respect of political and institutional reforms the Government of Filat has not taken any significant decision;
• Status and role of the Prosecutor General has not been changed, as required by an amendment of the Council of Europe of 1995;
• General Prosecution Office has remained a tool of governance, which plays the role of the power’s advocate and persecuting the opposition;
• Prosecutors have not become magistrates and were not included into the country’s judiciary system;
• Ministry of Interior, controlled by LDPM, has not been reformed, demilitarized and modernized. MIA is still working after the Soviet model, being headed by a retired general;
• The Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption has not been reformed. That institution, improper to the service of investigative bodies in a state with the rule of law, remained a tool of coercion upon businessmen and extortion of bribes;
• Information and Intelligence Service is headed by a retired KGB with a seniority of decades in the communist totalitarian system, the entire leadership of this institution being formed by former KGB senior officers;
• Customs Service is controlled by Vladimir Filat, who installed there one of his former business associate. Last year the country was permanently shaken by serious cases of smuggling of cigarettes, identified by Romanian customs officials. But Filat’s protégé heading the Customs Service didn’t suffer from these scandals. After Vladimir Filat will not be Prime Minister, all schemes and network of cigarette smuggling will come out to surface, which may prejudice the image of those who support him today;
• Public company “Teleradio Moldova” was politically subordinated to current governance, serving as a tool to promote its image at the expense of the opposition and civil society;
• Filat Governance didn’t restore the local public autonomy, destroyed by former Communist governance in 2003.Thus, the “vertical of power” was maintained, rural mayors were massively forced to join LDPM to get the financial support of central governance;
• International Organization “Transparency International” published on 26 October 2010 a report which substantially degraded Moldova on perception of corruption. The reason of this degradation is the lack of a competitive environment, dominance of oligarchic groups, lack of effective institutional arrangements to combat monopoly and cartel, smuggling, giving and taking bribes and other forms of economic crime.
• The report of “Expert Group”, funded by Soros Foundation, published on 4 November 2010, shows the lack of progress on economic freedoms. The reasons of these jams is the accretion of state institutions and parties in power with the financial interest groups (the smugglers, the big importers, a number of bankers, intermediaries, monopolists).In these circumstances Moldova has no chance to escape out of poverty. Therefore, the unconditional support of the EU does not contribute to positive changes in the national economy;
• The electoral call of European officials in favour of LDPM and IEA components may create unnecessary difficulties in communication and cooperation between the future leadership of Moldova and the European institutions;
• The most telling example of this is the EU’s relationship with the Ukraine, where presidential, regional and local elections have been won by the Party of Regions, the declared opponent of the EPP member parties.
• Note that on the day when Mr. President of EPP, W. Martens, was in Chisinau, the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was in Brussels, where they discuss the future perspective of granting associate membership to this country, as well as liberalization of visa regime.
• Therefore, prudence is the best advisor in this situation;
• Personally I would not like that a hasty decision of our EPP partners would put them in a very difficult situation, when a fellow of political family would get on the reach the dock for very serious crimes such as mass disorder with attacks against police and causing a huge material damage and economic crimes such as smuggling in especially large proportions and the like;
• Currently no one can guarantee for certain at least three things: if the elections will be recognized free and democratic, if LDPM remains in power and if after the governance is changed, the disclosures that will become public and will concern the quality of current power will not bring to light issues that could degrade Vladimir Filat and thus could affect the image of his European supporters.
In closing I wish to reiterate my public appeal to the EPP President Wilfried Martens, to all members of the EPP General Assembly to refrain from any hasty decisions and to postpone the accession of LDPM in our political family until clarification of some significant circumstances concerning this controversial topic.
November 23, 2010
Chişinău
Rosca, CDPP President
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