ALEXANDR SLUSARI: "MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT JUSTIFIED ALL BLUNDERS OF LAST YEAR BY WAR IN UKRAINE"

The head of the public organization "Farmers’ Force", Alexandr Slusari, in the interview with "INFOTAG" news agency shared his vision of the situation in Moldova, evaluated the actions of political parties, and gave a forecast of the results of local elections.

"INFOTAG": Mr. Slusari, was the institution you lead established exclusively to protect the business interests of farmers or is it a prototype of a future political party? What interests of the farmers are protected by the "Farmers’ Force"?

Alexandr SLUSARI: No, we are not talking about a political project. If I wanted to do something like this, I would not have left the leadership of the "Platforma DA" Party. This is a non-governmental, non-political, non-profit association focused primarily on protecting the interests of medium and small farmers. They are the most discriminated against category of economic agents in the country today, threatened with extinction.

"Farmers' Force" has its own voice, we defend our position in any form, including protests. But, again, there is nothing political, nor will there be. The members of the Association Council belong to different parties, and in the "Farmers' Force" association they are united by agricultural interests and only one policy - the agricultural one.

"INFOTAG": How do you feel about the fact that some agrarians receive more state benefits than they pay taxes to the state treasury?

А. S. This is a propaganda cliché that is repeated by all the authorities. The previous government is no exception. When it ran out of arguments, it repeated the refrain of Chicu (former Prime Minister in 2019-2020, Ion Chicu). Here are a few numbers to understand the real picture.

The agro-industrial sector provides almost half of Moldova's exports and creates about 35% of jobs. Its share in GDP is 21%. And most importantly, only for the purchase of fertilizers, fuel, pesticides, spare parts, the state treasury through the customs duties receives at least 5 billion lei immediately for their import. This is excise duties and VAT on resources that are purchased by the agrarians. Therefore, it is not correct to say that farmers receive more subsidies than taxes.

"INFOTAG": Is the Russian market finally lost for the farmers?

А. S.: Unfortunately, this market is very politicized, and not much depends on Moldovan farmers.

Moldovan products are of very high quality for the Russian market, they do not cause serious complaints. But the quality problem only arises when there is tension in political relations between the countries. I expect that no market is lost for Moldovan producers. The Russian market is traditional. Moldovan fruits, canned foods, grapes are valued by the Russians. And if you get away from the politicization of economic relations, which comes from the Russian leadership, I do not see any particular problem.

There are quality goods, they are exported to the Russian market. We had a duty-free zone, but since 2014. Russia unilaterally applied duties. Now they are applied, then reduced, then abolished. Or they try to allow a limited number of companies to export, selected on unclear grounds. As soon as the economic component dominates in the relations between the countries, I am sure that the 140-million-dollar Russian market is interesting for Moldovan agrarians.

"INFOTAG": How great is the dependence of Moldovan agricultural producers on their large neighbors - Ukraine and Romania, which traditionally, like Moldova, export a lot of agricultural products?

А. S.: Great dependence. For example, Ukraine is one of the top five grain and sunflower growers in the world, being the largest producer of sunflower oil. Romania is also a significant player.

Prices in the Black Sea region are formed by several countries: Russia, Ukraine and, to some extent, Romania. Moldova has a small voice in this sense. The last two years are particularly revealing in this sense. Today, Ukraine is overfilled with food, which must be sold at any price in order to get at least some liquidity, and Moldova feels it acutely.

Transit of cargo, which goes through Moldova, leads to the fact that some products settle in the country (and throughout Eastern Europe), and this presses on the price. Moldova is among them. Grain and sunflower prices have fallen. Many agrarians sell products below production cost. The situation was aggravated by last year's drought. And farmers found themselves in a situation of scissors, when the harvest was low (due to climatic conditions), all resources became more expensive: fertilizers, petroleum products and pesticides, and prices for the final products, on the contrary, collapsed.

Protests swept across Eastern Europe (e.g., in Poland), after which most governments went to compensate farmers. For each ton of production 45-57 euros will be allocated. In Moldova, there is silence on this matter. As if "it's up to the drowning people to save the drowning people.

This is the wrong approach of the government, so we have been beating the alarm about this situation since August 2022. There is protest sentiment among farmers and at the last meeting of the Association (attended by Prime Minister Dorin Recean) many formulated their position. "We support Ukraine, we are in solidarity with it and we understand its difficulties," but for the second year in a row, Moldovan farmers are being harmed. It is not large holdings that suffer, but small and medium-sized farmers. We need support, but it is not visible yet.

It was limited to promises at best. More often it was: "We have a war!" And everything was blamed on it. Now a new Prime Minister is here, and we met twice in the first month. This is so far a pleasant contrast to Natalia Gavrilita, who just ran away from us. We seem to have established a dialogue. Mr. Recean made certain commitments with deadlines for their fulfillment. The near future will show how things will go.

"INFOTAG": You were one of the leaders of the “Platforma DA” Party. Could you tell us briefly what is happening to this party now? Why has its new leadership lost the support of its advisors in the Municipal Council of Chisinau, including, the founder of the party, Andrei Nastase?

А. S.: After we learned the results of the July 11, 2021 parliamentary elections I resigned on the second day. And I think it is a proper Western tradition for party leaders to take responsibility for the result. We can argue why this happened. In the party during the last campaign, I was No. 2 on the electoral list. That's why I stepped down from the governing bodies, moved further away from the processes that go on there. As far as I understand, the new leadership began to have friction with the former leaders. I am an advocate of the principle of "when you leave, leave. You can't leave the door half-open...

Everything that is happening is unfortunate, because we have always been one of the cohesive parties, and in the capital positioned themselves as fighters against the construction mafia. We have always had internal democracy, but we always came to a compromise position. And now, apparently, the problems have gone too far.

"INFOTAG": How do you assess the chances of the ruling party in local elections in 2023?

А. S.: The elections are still almost half a year away. If they were held in March, the prospects for the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) are not very good, because the previous government was one of the worst ever in modern Moldova. At least as far as the economy is concerned. They tried to justify the incompetence of some ministers with external factors. This is why the image of the ruling party and the president suffered.

Today, the PAS Party’s rating has fallen, and if elections were held now, we would see its serious failure. But there are still six months to go. The resignation of the government was the right thing to do, but a belated measure. A new government has been conditionally formed, and this, too, is a reaction to the coming local elections. A kind of reset is taking place, the focus has shifted to the economy and security, which is right, given that the economic sector has been crushed.

If in these six months they manage to stabilize the situation in the context of the war in Ukraine and security problems in the region, the situation may change in voter preferences as well. And as a result there will be an acceptable result in the elections in the fall. But I should note that a lot depends on the actions of the new government.

"INFOTAG": Would you agree to run as a single candidate for Chisinau mayor from right-wing and center-right parties?

А. S.: Let me start with my favorite. I have already said that I don't suffer from political coquetry and that I don't go halfway and leave the door open. Almost two years ago I said that I was retiring from active politics, and a substantial period of time must pass to rethink everything that has been going on. I don't think it's necessary to come back a year after failing in an election. It's all the more relevant because I have a commitment to Farmers Power for another year. That's a mandate I need to see through to the end.

Having a certain political experience and observing the political situation, I have great doubts that unification is possible in the field of pro-European parties. Although the question is posed correctly. If there is a chance to beat Ion Ceban, it is a candidate from a conglomerate of pro-European forces. He would be supported by the parties that have structures in Chisinau.

"INFOTAG": What grade on a 10-point system would Alexandr Slusari give to the PAS Party for two years of governing Moldova?

А. S.: No higher than 5. The most important indicators for me are the reforms, the economic development and the improvement of people's life. Maybe you can give high marks to some aspects of the internal policy and of the foreign policy, but not to the economy, reforms, justice. Maybe Foreign and European Integration Minister Nicu Popescu and the Minister of Social Protection who left ahead of schedule could have been given a nine. But they both worked along similar lines. The first traveled with Mrs. Sandu and provided the money from donors and the other distributed it. It was good that this money was there, but it was distributed exclusively for eating out. Some of this money greatly increased the national debt.

And the biggest minus was that there was no growth. There was no help for the local producers, the economy was left to its own devices, decentralization was not even noticed, the administrative and territorial reform was canceled, and mayors are still coming to Chisinau with their outstretched hands in a hope to receive investments in exchange for political loyalty. Nobody has fought against monopolies, and the Competition Council, as before, remained impotent. And if we take only the "Economic Development of Moldova", it is a solid "D" (2 – “I.”).

"INFOTAG": Which party could hypothetically support the Farmers' Force Association in the elections?

А. S.: According to the association's charter, we are a non-profit and public organization. During the election campaign, we can discuss with politicians the agenda of their formations and the inclusion of farmers in it. That's all. But that doesn't mean that farmers will be politically passive. They, as educated and literate people, can be politically active in their districts and villages. The more farmers are represented in power structures, the better it will be for agriculture. The Association wants to influence the power to conduct the right agrarian policy. Our opponents are large holdings that hide their revenues in offshore companies, effectively killing the Moldovan countryside.

"INFOTAG": Thank you for the interview!