April 4 (SeeNews) - This year will be decisive for Moldova as relations with the EU are expected to stagnate at best, and could see a downturn, given the pro-Russian agenda of its president Igor Dodon, independent watchdog organisation Freedom House said.
Although the presidency’s role in setting policy is limited, Dodon is expected to seek greater engagement with Russia at the expense of relations with the EU, Freedom House noted in its latest report Nations in Transit 2017, published on Monday.
The president promised to work at improving relations with Russia by negotiating better market access for Moldovan goods and Moldovan workers in Russia. To this end, he signed on Monday a cooperation memorandum with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
This year, the pro-European government of Moldova must implement very important reforms related to justice, fighting corruption, adoption of the legal framework for the media sector, and stabilizing the banking industry and economy in the face of persistent unemployment and declining remittances, Freedom House commented.
Moldova's highest score in the last three editions of the report was in civil society democratic progress. Civil society organizations play an important role in Moldovan public life, Freedom House noted. In 2016, over 700 new organizations were founded, raising the country’s official total to 11,086.
Prospects are good as in its 2015–2018 action plan, the government made cooperation with civil society organisations a priority, even though it had previously failed to implement its promises in this area, the report showed.
The lowest score Moldova got in the last three years was in the anti-corruption fight, which has not progressed since 2015.
During 2016, the link between corruption and political control over public institutions was underscored by the dragged-out response to the 2014 massive banking fraud, allegations of selective justice for some politicians, and pressure on the president in the appointment of the prime minister, the report showed.
In November 2014, about $1 billion (939 million euro) went missing from three of the country's private banks. The sum was equivalent to about 16% of the impoverished ex-Soviet state's 2016 gross domestic product. The banks - Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank - collapsed and were liquidated.
According to opinion polls, corruption remains one of the country’s biggest problems, along with poverty, increasing prices, and high unemployment rates.
Approximately one in three respondents said they are most concerned about corruption and that the fight against it was among the top priorities to improve people’s social and economic well-being, Freedom House report indicated.
Details on Moldova (ratings based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest):
|
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
National Democratic Governance |
5.50 |
5.75 |
5.75 |
Electoral Process |
4.00 |
4.00 |
4.00 |
Civil Society |
3.25 |
3.25 |
3.25 |
Independent Media |
5.00 |
5.00 |
5.00 |
Local Democratic Governance |
5.75 |
5.50 |
5.50 |
Judicial Framework and Independence |
4.75 |
4.75 |
5.00 |
Corruption |
5.75 |
6.00 |
6.00 |
Democracy Score |
4.86 |
4.89 |
4.93 |
Source: Freedom House
($=0.9387 euro)