Co-reporters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed concern about the situation in Moldova, where protests have continued. The protesters demand the resignation of the ruling coalition of pro-European parties. “The recent scandal over the disappearance of $1 billion from the banking system of the country intensified disappointment of citizens. Young educated people see no other way out, but leaving the country,” RIA Novosti reported, citing experts of PACE. Commenting on protests of the opposition, reporters urged representatives of law-enforcement agencies to act moderately and not to use force.
According to sociologists, citizens of Moldova would choose Eurasian integration if a referendum on a foreign political vector of the republic’s development was conducted. The data of the Vox Populi public opinion poll, which was organized by the Association of Sociologists and Demographers, showed that 40.7% of the population stood for joining the EAEU; 38.4% - for joining the EU. At the same time, 14.7% of citizens don’t support any of these vectors of the country’s development. 7% of respondents wouldn’t participate in the referendum at all.
The Director General of the International Fund for promotion of culture, science and education 'Humanism, Progress and Rule of Law', Yuri Nagernyak, says that the overall situation in Moldova is basically clear, and there are no big discrepancies, then there are certain discrepancies and different points of view regarding prospects for development of the protest process. “To date, no country in the world has such support in terms of changes to foreign and domestic policy as Moldova. The question is how effectively and wisely is this protest potential used? I have a feeling that it is like a blank shot. In 2015, for almost the entire year, the republic was shaking. And what do we have in the end?” Nagernyak wonders.
He sees several points in conclusion: “there is the decision on the house arrest of the 'Petrenko group', which, actually, would have probably happened by itself, under pressure from Europe. There is the removal of the Prosecutor General, in relation to that, many observers say that it's just technical changes in the government. That is, it is a very big question, under whose influence he left. And, strictly speaking, in the long run, it is all that we have as a result of these powerful, really mass protests of 2015. Will it happen so that people will just be disappointed, seeing that going out on the streets every day or two, as a result, they actually achieved nothing?”
According to Nagernyak, “opposition actions have helped Vladimir Plahotniuc. That is, under the guise of the opposition, using its slogan, he just continued successfully to clear his way to the complete privatization of the republic. The real achievement of the participants of the protest movement is that they managed to unite the entire protest electorate. Now there is a question of how durable this union is. Each of these forces has its own view on the present situation, and has its own fairly different position regarding what to do next.”
