​MOLDOVAN POLITICIANS DO NOT NEED PEOPLE’S OPINION – PATRIA PARTY LEADER

The modern Moldovan political elite do not actually need whatever consultations with the Moldovan people, Patria Party Chairman Emil Ciobu stated today at the roundtable conference organized here by the American Institute in Ukraine (AIU) to discuss if the republic needs to hold a referendum on the expediency of the EU-RM Association Agreement.

Moldova’s former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Romania Emil Ciobu offered an opinion that the AA was signed by Chisinau “due to a very simple reason – because the Moldovan political elite did not have their own ideas or proposals concerning how to develop the country”.

“They felt they needed to catch at something. The Eastern Partnership, initiated by the European Union, failed in both Georgia and Ukraine, so it had to be presented as a beautiful fairy tale at least somewhere. And here turned up Moldova so happily! The European Union has saved its face, and Moldovan politicians now rush at anyone who has an opinion differing from the official – pro-European one, which is certainly the only correct one”, believes historian and ex-diplomat Ciobu.

In his opinion, Iceland can well be regarded as an ideal example of consultations with citizens, where President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who was elected to the supreme post 5 times (!), attracted to Constitution writing job first 900 people, who wrote the Main Law’s essential articles, and then formed a National Council of 25 most respected citizens, who considered and approved the document.

“Among those who wrote the 2012 Constitution of Iceland were fishermen, postal workers, housewives, cops etc. This means that decisions important-most for the nation were formulated and presented by the grassroots, not by a handful of complacent politicians like in Moldova”, said Ciobu.

He thinks that the Association Agreement was prepared and signed in a great haste, without consulting the population, but “what’s done can’t be undone. Now we must go through the parliamentary elections and preserve the country, after which we should at last start consulting the people of Moldova on all important matters. This is a normal democratic practice”, said Emil Ciobu.