HAPPENING THIS WEEK

Greetings from Chișinău! Here is what’s happening this week: as the grounds of the ACUM – Socialist governing coalition are shaking in a looming dismissal of the Government, ZdG comments on the possible options in editorials. We delve further into the current political crisis that shortly followed an unprecedented Socialist victory in local elections and the Government’s move to take on powers to nominate the Prosecutor General in weekly investigations. Our feature makes a deep dive into the investments made in a failed justice reform to which the European Union pledged €60 million back in 2013. All of that and more in this week’s newsletter. Happy reading!

THIS WEEK’S FEATURE

JUSTICE REFORM: Moldova spent around €35.5 million (685.4 million lei) in five years for implementing justice reform, during 2013-2017. The E.U. initially offered close to double that amount in the form of grants supplementing the state budget. In the end, however, the authorities absorbed less than half of the external funding offered, around €28.2 million. Besides renovated buildings, the justice reform left behind unresolved criminal cases and public tenders won by interested firms, a controllable and politically influenced justice system.  Prosecution opened two criminal cases for the mismanagement of connected funds. While investigating how the authorities spent the money allocated for the justice reform from 2013 to 2017, ZdG concluded that:

• Since 2013 to 2017 Moldovan authorities spent around €15.9 million on buying new locations and renovating buildings, €1.7 million of which went to purchase a new location for the Superior Council of Magistracy in the heart of the city. Some of those repairs and renovations went to courts that were later reorganized and merged, thus vacating the renovated premises. 
• The Ministry of Justice paid over €1 million to purchase six information systems. So far, they have not been put to use nor have they reached the final beneficiaries, years after the procurement. The National Anticorruption Center raised questions regarding the way the  Ministry of Justice spent part of the money dedicated to justice reform, opening a criminal case for exceeding duties.
• The Ministry of Health spent almost half a million euros on procuring DNA testing equipment for investigating crimes. In August 2017, prosecutors detained three persons suspected of exceeding their authority and rigging the tender to purchase the equipment for the DNA laboratory.

FROM THE EDITORS

GOVERNING OR IN OPPOSITION: In last week’s local elections, Chișinău has fallen. It has fallen to a pro-Russian  party for the first time in the nearly 30 years of independence in Moldova. And the winning party and mayor are not at all a left wing party, but one subsidized by Moscow and led by a president who, openly and shamelessly, plays Russia’s political and geopolitical games and interests in Moldova and in the region. More precisely –  Chișinău has fallen into the hands of the Kremlin, as it happened earlier, in 2016 when Igor Dodon won the presidency, and as it happened after the June 8, 2019 change of power when the Socialists doled up the army, the security, the reintegration of the unrecognized Transnistrian region. Only three days after the local elections, the Socialist Party went after the Government, threatening to dismiss its ministers, or the entire government altogether. While first, the Socialists criticized the social and economic ministries for inefficiency, now the Minister of Justice was under attack.  Rather than playing along with the Socialists’ game, the ACUM Bloc is finally acting as it should have right after the June 8 change of power: without unilateral compromises. ZdG’s Politics Editor Petru Grozavu argues that the Acum Bloc should rather take to the streets than in remain in government. 
 

ANOTHER BERLIN WALL: The Berlin wall did not fall. It was destroyed with hammers, picks and axes. On November 9, 1989 the Germans succeeded to destroy the Wall that ran through their lives, making it possible for the two Germanies to reunite. On November 10, 1989, just a day after the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany, protesters gathered in Chișinău demanding justice and freedom of speech. After the Berlin Wall had fallen in Germany, the Germans set to work, building new houses, schools, hospitals and businesses. In Moldova, after the fall of the Soviet regime, the politicians fought for power, while the people that overthrew the regime dreamed of democracy. In the last 30 years all that Moldova has got is some memories and lost dreams. The Germans, besides memories, have got a palpable standard of living. ZdG’s Editor-in-Chief, Aneta Grosu argues that the protests of 30 years ago could have culminated otherwise, if Moldova had politicians as firm and steadfast as the simple people, ready at any time to take to streets and defend their cause.   
 

TAKING OVER MEDIA CONTROL: The lack of transparency of media funding should be as important a problem as the lack of transparency of party funding. However, the Audiovisual Council, the key media regulatory institution in Moldova, seems not to hold too many discussions about financing. The Council also does little to avoid the concentration of media ownership. The Perviy Kanal of the Russian Federation previously owned by the fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc is now under President Igor Dodon’s control. And the national public TV station Moldova 1, financed from public money seems to follow Perviy Kanal’s lead. Politicized media is a big problem both for the country and the media channel itself. ZdG’s Executive Director Alina Radu argues in an editorial that TV channels which become puppets in the hands of politicians will eventually go into insolvency, both financial insolvency and credibility insolvency.    

THE FOREIGN BRIEF

EBRD REPORT: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) stated in its November 2019 Regional Economic Prospects report that Moldova’s economic growth for 2019 is expected to hit 3.8 percent. According to the E.B.R.D., the International Monetary Fund’s  support remains crucial for anchoring macroeconomic stability of Moldova. In October, Moldova’s Ministry of Economy also recalculated the country’s economic growth to a more optimistic 4.2 percent. According to the same report, Romania’s economic growth for 2019 will be lower than previously expected at 3.2 percent (previously predicted at 3.6 percent).  

MOLDOVA AT THE UN: The third committee of the United National General Assembly on social and humanitarian issues adopted on November 7, with a majority of votes, the draft resolution proposed by Russia on the fight against the glorification of Nazism. Moldova along with 54 other states abstained from voting while U.S.A. and Ukraine voted against the resolution. Moldova’s vote at the United Nations could mean that the country is trying to maintain a geopolitical equilibrium between Russia and the U.S.A. 

ROMANIAN PRIME MINISTER: The new Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban will make his first official visit abroad to Moldova. Ludovic Orban declared that Moldova will continue to remain a priority for the Romanian government. Orban added that efforts will be focused on finishing the gas pipeline and strengthening the cooperation between local authorities. Romania is Moldova’s biggest partner and supporter, around 28 percent of Moldovan exports go to Romania which constitutes more than half of the Moldovan goods exported to the European Union. 

ZDG INVESTIGATES

PROSECUTOR WANTED: The Minister of Justice canceled the results of the contest for the Prosecutor General position, proposing new amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office, on November 6. Maia Sandu’s Government took on the responsibility for passing the new Law, in a procedure bypassing usual legislative reviews. The Socialist Party, in governing coalition with the ACUM Bloc, threatened to dismiss the Government. On November 8, the European Union Delegation, along with the U.S., German, French, and U.K. embassies messages urged the governing coalition to overcome the political crisis. ZdG brings you the run down on the political crisis with a look to understand the likelihood of the government to collapse. As the parties assumed commitments in front of citizens for de-oligarchization and in front of international partners funding reforms, the stakes for both parts of the coalition are high. 

TRANSNISTRIA VISITS: President Igor Dodon celebrated Russia’s National Unity Day together with Vadim Krasnoselsky, the head of the unrecognized Transnistrian region on November 3. Dodon also visited the Tighina Fortress, an old 16th century building located in the unrecognized Transnistrian region, during his visit, which like the rest of the Transnistrian region is under Russian military occupation since 1992, as a result of the Independence War on the Nistru River. Dodon’s gesture scandalized public opinion both in Chișinău and abroad. ZdG asked the experts’ opinion regarding the President’s affront of Moldova’s Constitution. All the experts believe that the president violated the Constitution by meeting with Krasnoselsky, as he is the leader of the Transnistrian region, where human rights are violated, as numerous reports show.

MOLDOVA IN WORLD NEWS

COALITION PROBLEMS: President Igor Dodon’s threats of the coalition’s break up following Prime Minister Maia Sandu’s move to take on powers to nominate the Prosecutor General makes headlines in Euronews, Balkan Insight and Reuters.

FUTURE TALKS ON TRANSNISTRIA: Attempts to resolve the frozen conflict in Transnistria are still ongoing, nearly 30 years after it broke away from Moldova following a short war.  IWPR interviewed the deputy prime minister for reintegration, Vasile Șova, who is the coalition government’s representative in the negotiations. Asked about the outcomes of the meeting in Bratislava Șova pointed out that while the Moldovan side is focused on improving the human rights situation in the region the Transnistrian negotiators are interested only in the business issues, which makes it harder for the parties to find a compromise on certain issues. 

SPOTTED THIS WEEK

ZDG AWARDED: During the annual Mass Media Forum, journalists from Ziarul de Gardă took second place in the categories for investigations and gender equality.  The Mass Media Forum is at its fifth edition and it aims to develop an independent and pluralistic media. Ecaterina Alexandr won in the contest about Empowering Women. Victor Moșneag and Anatolie Esanu won second place with an investigation on Moldova’s Federation of Football.

UNPFA AND MOLDOVA: This week, the Summit on International Conference on Population and Development will take place in Nairobi, where Moldova will also be represented. ZdG’s The Summit is dedicated to women and girls everywhere. In Moldova, the U.N.P.F.A. works with the government and local authorities to develop comprehensive sexuality education courses and to implement a national strategy to combat gender-based violence. 

ZDG IN USA: This week the leading investigative reporter from ZdG, Victor Moșneag makes a study visit to Washington D.C., looking for anti-corruption and transparency experiences, visiting Washington Post and many other important institutions.

ZDG’s Executive Director Alina Radu also visited the U.S. and had a meeting at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, learning about more opportunities for Moldovan journalists. She also participated in the Moldovan-American Convention in Philadelphia, where Ziarul de Garda had a special session to present its work, goals and achievements to the Moldovan diaspora in the U.S. but also to American organizations interested in cooperation with Moldova.