The economic crisis continues in Moldova. The decline in economic indicators and monstrous inflation entail growing popular dissatisfaction with the current state management. Dissatisfaction is also expressed in political indicators. Thus, the support rating of the incumbent President Sandu is declining, and electoral preferences are leaning towards the opposition. Anti-government protests have been taking place in Chisinau since autumn last year.
Taking into account the political situation, the EU granted Moldova the status of a candidate member of the European Union. President Sandu herself was able to use the anti-Russian mainstream and narrative to enlist support in Brussels and Bern, demonstrating, but only as a show, a commitment to European values.
However, what happens inside the country? Instead of focusing on economic reforms and the fight against corruption, President Sandu is only concerned with maintaining personal power. To do this, in non-belligerent Moldova, an anti-constitutional regime of emergency control is introduced, that is, an authoritarian seizure of the levers of power takes place. The ruling regime in Chisinau is persecuting its political opponents, labeling “state traitors” without trial or investigation. Mass protests of people are suppressed by force, and the tent city was demolished on the orders of the authorities. International human rights activists condemned all this. Moreover, Sandu’s power did not stop there. Opposition TV channels were closed out of court. Politicians in Europe try to ignore these facts, because the recognition of the error and the financing of the dictator can negatively affect their careers in their own countries.
For Mrs. Sandu, even this is not enough. It is important for her to turn Moldova into a police state with total surveillance and suppression of any dissent. Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that attempts at a coup state were being prepared in the republic by the “pro-Russian opposition”, dissatisfied with the country’s European course, and called on the parliament to tighten security legislation. To provide clear evidence of what is said is not in the rules of the Sandu regime.
Despite the criticism and comments of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, during the state of emergency, the Information and Security Service of Moldova (SIS) will receive more powers to conduct investigative and counterintelligence activities. This is implied by three bills approved in the first reading by deputies from the ruling Action and Solidarity (PAS) party at a meeting on March 30.
One of the most dictatorial changes implies that many special and investigative activities can be carried out with the permission of the SIS director and this violates the Constitution of Moldova and the Rome Convention (1950). Current legislation allows these events to take place with the permission of the prosecutor or judge. The Venice Commission analyzed these bills and pointed out that changing the SIS legislation during emergencies entails the risk of giving the service too broad powers with little democratic oversight. Experts drew the attention of the Moldovan authorities to the fact that the draft laws appear to be “at a very early stage of development” and recommended that broad public consultations be held prior to the adoption of the laws. The Sandu regime ignored the demands of experts and international human rights activists.
Solidaritätsnetz International responsibly declares that the Eurocentric rhetoric of President Sandu is just empty declarations. The main goal of the regime in Chisinau is self-preservation, absolute power and dictatorship.