It is excluded that Moldova should have no place in top ratings. There must be something that she can be noticed for and be made visible except for theft and corruption. It’s high time. If, for 30 years, stunned by the red guerrillas of the Kremlin, we have opposed to being Romania, with all that Romania has and is in the world, then let’s see what we want to be. And let us be. As time passes by and, it is a bad sign.

For 30 years, we have been choosing and electing right and left, and went through nine parliaments, we have now the sixth head of state at the beginning of the mandate, we changed about 16 governments and where have we ended up? We are the poorest state in Europe, and we rank first in theft (the billion-dollar bank fraud case), in high-level corruption, and exodus (the state with the oldest population in the region) … What has not died and still lives in us since 1990 are the memories that bind us to the first parliament and the first governments of Druc and Muravschi, the only ones who honorably respected their mandate. Otherwise – empty agony, vanity, theft, and desolation, in the direct and figurative meaning, are turning Moldova into a barren wasteland, just like the harsh north winds are scourging the desolate winter in the steppes of Bugeac and in the Danube Plain.

It could have been different. There have been plenty of opportunities for governments to show their ambitions and to be more diligent and stand out at the pinnacle of success. Obviously, they could not have claimed the top 10 most prolific presidents in the world or the 20 best-performing governments in the world, or the 25 most influential foreign ministers, or the 30 most incorruptible parliaments, or the 100 most beautiful successful governments. It is true, we are not the USA, Russia, Japan, or China, we do not have their political experience, we do not have their armies and power, we do not control the planet and the cosmos, we do not have their resources, savings, and money. Yet, we are not Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, or Uganda, although our Soviet past is as colonial as theirs. Europe, however, is not Africa. At least, it shouldn’t be.

We have been members of the United Nations for 29 years, but the regimes, instead of teaching us to be a nation, have torn us apart. We were told that our country was not ours, and neither the language, nor the writing, nor the history … The parties that have succeeded each other in government for years, recycled by Moscow, did everything to disunite us because united we would have been strong, and Russia, in order to dominate us, needed us to be weak.

In 1995, we became members of the Council of Europe – the first big door that opened before us from the perspective of integration into the family of modern Europe. To this day, we are still beyond the doorstep, chronic correctors of the trials of justice reform and the fight against corruption.

In 2014, in extreme political conditions, thanks to Romania, the Association and Free Trade Agreement with the EU was signed in Brussels. This was followed by the lifting of travel restrictions. Europe’s markets have been unlocked. The EU opened up to Moldovans, while Moldova did not do the same. The governing alliance, managed by the Democratic Party of Moldova, instead of referring to European governance standards, went astray. Robbery, corruption, state banditry become rules of government in Chișinău, and in 2016, Igor Dodon, who became president, declared war (verbally) on the EU, Romania, and NATO. Although it did not go beyond statements, the EU reclassified its relations with Moldova. The little ”cold war” between Chișinău and Brussels ended when Dodon and the Socialists lost power in Chișinău.

During the 30 years since its existence, Moldova belonged to us only for two years, as long as there were no parties in Moldova. In 1992, Russia started a war on the Nistru River and planned the dismissal of Prime Minister Mircea Druc. The vote of Andrei Sangheli’s agro-communists was used as a weapon against Druc. Prime Minister Druc was dismissed, and Russia launched a second major offensive against Chișinău: the division of Moldova into parties, which aimed at the split of the Popular Front, the only one that had control over the situation in the territory. The Front was in turmoil. I clearly remember Gheorghe Ghimpu, who was the greatest visionary leader of the entire cohort of the Front, alerting: “Brothers, it’s not good to separate. We have to stick together. Together we are a force. Divided into parties, we will fight among ourselves. That’s what Russia wants. In order to succeed further, we must remain a single force … .”

Unfortunately, he was not heard. The anti-Soviet resistance gave way and dissociated into parties. In 1994, the agrarians came to power and disaster struck. The Popular Front, which in 1990 got to Parliament with more than 150 deputies, ended its term with just over 30. Moreover, for 30 years of Independence, a right-wing party comes to rule Moldova only in 2021. Otherwise, Moscow ruled through its “bailiffs” according to its own rules. Theft, state banditry, and corruption are not mere crimes in the case of Moldova. They are Moscow’s undeclared wars against Moldova, to kneel her down by impoverishment, as it was in 1946-1947.

In all the years since 1990, Moldova has endured all kinds of shortages. The only thing we have never missed is the myriad of parties, as many as 70 to less than 3 million population, according to the latest data. Romania has 44 parties to about 20 million people, Russia – 67 to 144 million population, USA – 17 to 330 million, Germany – 30 to 83 million, and France – 42 to 72 million … It’s a record for Moldova, however it does not advantage her. And not because these parties are funded by the state, but because over 80% of them serve foreign interests. In order to change the order of the rankings for Moldova, we need different parties, and this means that the Action and Solidarity Party has one more mission: a new Law on Parties.