Moldova aims to exit
The top leadership of Moldova has started talking about leaving the Commonwealth of Independent States. Public thinking aloud is being heard in parallel with the negotiations on Moldova obtaining candidate status for membership in the European Union.
No one has yet calculated the economic consequences, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The end is approaching
The remark about Moldova’s possible exit from the CIS was made not from a high rostrum, but much closer to ordinary citizens – on the air of a popular TV channel. But this idea was voiced not by an ordinary representative of the ruling PAS party, but by its actual person No. 1 - the speaker of parliament and acting party chairman Igor Grosu.
Moldova’s exit from the CIS and any other formats of cooperation that involve overlap with Russia and its allies is almost an idea for the current Moldovan government. The idea that the CIS format is “unnecessary”, that Moldova has not received certain millions from Russia and the Commonwealth, while the West is throwing these millions at Moldova, has been one of the main tracks on Moldovan television financed by Western non-governmental foundations for several years now. With the rise of Maia Sandu to the presidency in November 2020 and the PAS party to power in July 2021, the theme of ending cooperation in the eastern direction and a final turn to the west began to sound louder.
Until recently, the country's leadership still did not dare to take this step. After all, citizens of Moldova are connected with Russia and the CIS countries by centuries-old cultural, historical, and economic ties. An abrupt break could come as a shock to the population. However, now, in the midst of hostilities in Ukraine and anti-Russian hysteria in the Moldovan media, the moment to leave the CIS may seem appropriate.
On May 5, the vote in the European Parliament to support the Moldovan application to join the European Union could not have come at a better time. Literally at the beginning of March, signing a letter of application to Brussels, President Maia Sandu said:
“When we have moved far enough along the European path, we will also consider the right moment when the Republic of Moldova will have to abandon the CIS.”
Judging by the statements of her fellow party members, this “far” is already much closer than it seemed.
The market we will lose
It is obvious that the PAS government itself still does not have a specific decision and date for withdrawal and severance of relations with the CIS. However, soil preparation is ongoing. The Ministry of Economy of Moldova, for example, shared with journalists that it is studying the order and procedures for re-registration of trade and economic relations after leaving the Commonwealth of Independent States format.
That is, despite the desire to leave and slam the door, the desire to stay and make money from the export of apples, plums, peaches and other Moldovan fruits still remains. Contrary to official statistics telling about the redistribution of most of Moldovan exports towards the European Union, the vast majority of Moldovan farmers actually depend on good relations with Russia.
For farmers from Moldova, this is a gigantic market, the opportunity to quickly sell products, and the absence of strict requirements for appearance and uniform standardization of products, etc. Despite numerous scandals in the past in connection with Rosselkhoznadzor bans on the import of Moldovan wines and fruits, the agricultural sector of the small republic is still dependent on eastern markets. These are hundreds of millions of lei, working gardens and hundreds of jobs in the Moldovan rural hinterland, where the population has no other way to survive.
“Success stories” of Moldovan wines in China and Africa, which TV experts love to regal Moldovan viewers with, turned out to be isolated cases, in which investors, as a rule, are representatives of large European businesses. And then, it turns out that the “success stories” are not entirely Moldovan.
Leave can't stay
However, the problems of Moldovan business are unlikely to stop the country's pro-Western leadership. Officials and politicians targeting Brussels and Washington have previously shown enviable insensitivity when watching unharvested apples freezing on trees - after another scandal in Moldovan-Russian relations, it was primarily small and medium-sized farms that suffered. With PAS gaining almost a constitutional majority in parliament, the determination of the anti-Russian lobby in Moldovan politics has increased many times over.
These processes did not go unnoticed in Moscow.
“After pro-European forces came to power in 2020-2021, Moldova began to gradually curtail ties with Russia, the CIS and the EAEU, where, by the way, it has observer status. The country’s parliament adopts initiatives that infringe on the interests of citizens who advocate the development of relations with Russia,” states Alexey Polishchuk, director of the second department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The issue of breaking relations with Russia after the Ukrainian events for Chisinau has largely become an image and declarative story. The move would help demonstrate that the Moldovan leadership stands shoulder to shoulder with major European powers in their fight against Moscow. And if for this, PAS deputies subsidized from the Soros and Ebert foundations have to leave their compatriots from the rural hinterland in the north or south of the country without a piece of bread, they won’t even blink an eye.
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