“We did not have a real opposition; here, you, (the new government) will be luckier in this respect,” according to a statement by former Prime Minister Pavel Filip, chairman of the parliamentary faction of PDM.

On June 14, after a week of political confrontation and a state of civil pre-war (“political deadlock”?), PDM and personally, Vlad Plahotniuc, suddenly succumbed and complied with the new order. Previously, he reminded of a Fuhrer on stage in the Great National Assembly Square, and was ready to declare war till death to anyone. He requested that Prime Minister Pavel Filip leaves the Government building and for PDM to form the opposition. “We will be just as strong in opposition”, the leader of PDM wrote on Facebook, a few days later (today we know that he was writing out of illegality). It was his duty as a leader to posture as a great optimist, though it was unlikely, almost impossible, that PDM would feel in opposition as comfortable and confident as when they held the reins of power. We do not know who and what was more influential on Plahotniuc’s move. It is certain, however, that it was not “Dodon the traitor”, Greceanai, Nastase or Sandu. What we know with certainty is that in the week of June 7-14, all official messages coming from outside Moldova, including from the great powers, were in support of the new governing alignment (happenstance and temporary, as it turned out)  formed after the February 24 elections. The call to calm and dialogue was a general one. We also know that of the many meetings that Vlad Plahotniuc had in that week, the last one was with the head of the US diplomatic service in Chisinau, Ambassador Dereck J. Hogan, after which Plahotniuc accepted to leave the government. We can just suppose under what conditions and at what cost he left, from all the following events and from events that are yet to unfold.

Plahotniuc “capitulated”, read the headlines of some media institutions immediately after PDM announced on June 14 that it was giving up power. It happened on the eve of the Pentecost, when the ACUM Bloc and PSRM called people to come to Chisinau, to the “People’s March,” in support of the new government and against the previous Plahotniuc regime, which refused to recognize the legality of the change of political power in Moldova. The march was postponed: ACUM and PSRM gave up the “People’s March.” People went to church and celebrated the Great Sunday instead of standing in the sun on Chisinau streets – in case they came at all, counting that  Dodon’s electorate (the old people who cannot keep up with the marching) would not get out to the streets, in which case PAS and PPDA supporters would have had to please Dodon, with a hypocritical and greedy smile from the tribune, considering himself a “hero” of the day and shouting loudly in the Great National Assembly Square: “Victory, we won, thank you for joining us, be brave like me, do not give up…”. Dodon the brave? Really? Dodon with his head down – yes. Dodon lacking a spine – yes. Dodon the traitor – yes … On the evening of June 7, Igor Dodon with his family, took refuge in the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, for fear of being arrested for treason, after he  suggested to Plahotniuc, at Putin’s recommendation, to sign a new Kozak plan (Kozak-2) for Moldova’s federalization (sale to the Russians). “The president” fled to the Russians and left Moldova in the lurch. Courage, is it? Two days later, still scared, Dodon complained at a press conference that his wife cried at night and that “I will not forgive anyone for my wife’s tears.” But what about the tears of the wives of those killed by Russia in the Nistru War in 1992 (and not for a night, but for 27 years)? Or the tears of children whose fathers died, or the tears of parents who lost their children because of the same war? Dodon goes to Tiraspol and hugs Krasnoselski, the criminal. Instead of arresting him and convicting him, he runs with flowers to the tombs of the dreadful Cossack people who came warring in Moldova instead of honoring the heroes of the Independence or lighting a candle in their memory in church. He betrays and considers himself a hero. Who do you think will forgive you the tears of those killed by Russia in the Nistru, Igor Nikolaevich? If, somehow, this can be forgiven. And now I sit and wonder: who capitulated? Before whom? Plahotniuc, by giving up power in the new political circumstances, by refusing to sell Moldova to the Russians or was it Dodon, who is ready to sell Moldova to the Russians without negotiating? I have never been a supporter of the mafiotic style of the PDM governmentand, nor of Plahotniuc. I know, however, by monitoring for years his behavior, that Vlad Plahotniuc, unlike Dodon, is not made of soft flesh (he also has bones). Plahotniuc succumbed on June 14, but that does not mean that Plahotniuc reconciled himself to the situation as the Agrarians, Communists and others did in their time … Plahotniuc is not Sangheli nor Motpan, nor Rosca, Diacov, Lucinschi and, if you wish, neither Voronin. Plahotniuc’s ambitions and ego are different. 

In the end, Plahotniuc had a choice, and had he signed the Kozak-2 Memorandum on June 7, he could still be in power today, along with the Socialists. Head of Government. Plahotniuc chose to repeat the “Năstase case” from the Chisinau City Hall. And he miscalculated.  This discredited him forever. It discredited him before the Russians, where he was already discredited, and before the Euro-Western partners, with whom Plahotniuc had long ago crossed the red line. He was on his own. This played a trick on him. Five days after the blockade of state institutions, these were unblocked, the tents around them were removed and people went home.  Not just people left. Plahotniuc and Shor also left, and so did Candu. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court revoked its decisions adopted on 7-9 June, the General Prosecutor’s Office was asked to deprive Vlad Plahotniuc of his parliamentary immunity, PDM is accused of anti-constitutional putsch. What’s next? If PDM is outlawed, the electoral chances of the Socialists could double, and it is possible that PSRM breaks its relationship with ACUM and announces early elections. Yet, the Socialists, every day, step by step, are taking control of the state’s force and security institutions.

Petru Grozavu