Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigns. Since the start of the war in neighboring Ukraine, the country, one of the poorest countries in Europe, has been grappling with massive energy shortages, skyrocketing inflation and constant protests.
President Maia Sandu has already nominated a successor: Dorin Recean. The businessman was Minister of the Interior from 2012 to 2015. Recean wants to continue his predecessor’s pro-European policy. Moldova, along with Ukraine, became a candidate for accession to the European Union in June last year.
Gavrilita, who has been in office for a year and a half, blames Russia for the bad situation in his country. She referred to “Russian aggression” in Ukraine in her resignation. The results are particularly evident for gas supplies from Russia, on which Moldova is completely dependent. Last fall, supplier Gazprom severely reduced deliveries.
power source
In addition, the country regularly experiences problems with electricity supply. Moldova receives electricity from Romania, but high-voltage lines partly run through Ukrainian territory. When the power is cut off in Ukraine after the Russian attacks, Moldova is often left in the dark.
Despite the hundreds of millions of support from Brussels, the government could not keep prices under control. Inflation is over 30 percent and this is hitting the population hard on their wallets.
As a result, this has led to massive daily demonstrations by the pro-Russian Shor party lately. This party is named after oligarch Ilan Shor, who was suspected of profiting from a massive bank fraud in 2014. His party has six seats in the Moldovan parliament.
Connections with Russia
Moldova has longstanding relations with Moscow. The country was part of the Soviet Union and has long been under the leadership of pro-Russian parties and politicians since its independence in 1991. Addressing 27 EU leaders in Brussels yesterday, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy warned that intelligence services had caught a Russian plot detailing how it would take control of Moldova.
Also, part of Moldova has been controlled by Moscow since 1990. This part, Transnistria, was then separated from Moldova. Since then, Russian soldiers have been stationed there, partly as a “peacekeeper” and partly as a regular unit. The now overthrown government says the presence of Russian troops is illegal.
At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there were great fears that the Russians would advance into Transnistria, but due to the stubborn Ukrainian resistance they could not even get close. Still, the head of the Moldovan intelligence service said in December that Moscow had not given up on the plan. “The question is not whether the Russian Federation will try to invade Moldova again, but when,” he said at the time.
recovery of the economy
President Sandu said members of the ruling Action and Solidarity Party had approved the arrival of the new non-party Prime Minister Recean. He has recently become an important advisor to Sandu.
Recean has two weeks to form the new cabinet. According to President Sandu, the cabinet will focus, among other things, on the economic recovery.
Source: NOS
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
