Dirk Schuebel: The most important thing is that a president is elected

Dirk Schuebel

We asked the head of EU Delegation in Moldova what follows in the EU-RM relations once the "honeymoon" is over. Read in the interview below how important is to avoid early elections in order to keep the course of European integration of our country and how European Union plans to support Moldova in future.

Press assigns you the statement that early elections would suspend the advance of Moldova to the European Union. The last public opinion poll shows a deep disappointment of the population in the policies pursued by the government. In these conditions what would be the "European" solution to the problem, having in mind that elections would stop the reforms and that we have a record level of dissatisfaction of the people?

First of all let me say that in my opinion another round of pre-term elections will not be good for this country in this moment because it will inevitable stop the reform process. The international practice shows that in pre-electoral periods the will to conduct reforms is much lower than in a normal period of time. Therefore I believe that the best is to avoid early elections and to find a solution to the presidential problem hopefully already on 16 December through these elections.  

With regard to the surveys, I should be honest with you and admit that since the last parliamentary elections in 2010 I stopped believing in the results of surveys in your country because many of them were quite wrong. Therefore I would not pay too much attention to these surveys. However, we are aware that we have to continue working hard on the image of European institutions and of the European Union in Moldova. This is actually one of my main tasks – to promote the European idea, to explain what the European Union is really about.

In one of your interviews you spoke in support of Zinaida Greceanii for the function of the President of the Republic of Moldova. Why did you do it?

I think there was a little misinterpretation of what I said at the time. Let me explain. In an interview on a concretely different topic, a journalist asked me if I thought that Zinaida Greceanii could be a good president for this country. My answer was that we know Mrs Greceanii very well in Bruselles from the time when she was a prime-minister of the Republic of Moldova and at that time we cooperated quite well with Mrs Greceanii. That’s why I think if the Moldovan parliamentarians would elect her, she would be not a bad president. This is what I said and this comment remains valid now as well. I don’t know whether she will continue to be a candidate or not. I know so far that Mr Lupu will be a candidate from the part of the Alliance. I believe that the most important thing is that a president is elected in order to avoid another round of pre-term parliamentary elections.     

Do you think that is possible to solve the crisis without the involvement of opposition?

The European Union, and me personally, while I’m here as a representative of European Union in the Republic of Moldova, have always urged to include the opposition in the policies of the country. There is a need to be inclusive and in particular in a crisis situation it is important to have support from the opposition. However, the opposition also has to want to contribute and it is of course very important that the Communist party, the current opposition, is also willing to provide such support for the EU interpretation process. So these are two sides of the medal if you want to come out of the crisis.   

What you expect from the government, in the conditions that the announced legislative agenda is pretty loaded, but the political classis is preoccupied with looking for a president?

As I mentioned it would be important to close the important issue of electing the president so that the country could really concentrate on the continuation of the reform process which is also important for this country in order to increase the level of life for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.  We will do our best to support the development in the reform efforts so that indeed we can see visible changes in the country. I know that some part of the population is disappointed because in two years of the Alliance not so many visible changes have taken place as the population would like to see. I can tell you out of my own experience from the reunification process of the two Germanys that it takes longer than two years to see some changes. My modest request for the population is to try to be patient. The European Union will help the country as long as those who govern the country will be pursuing the reform efforts.

After the "success story" and the "honeymoon", at what stage the relationship between Moldova and EU arrived today?

I think my comment from a half year ago about the "honeymoon" being over is still valid but it was interpreted in different ways. Let me clarify once again – I meant that we are now a normal couple and of course a relationship does not get worse after the honeymoon. More trust, more confidence has been established. Of course any relationship has its ups and downs and the couple EU-Moldova is not an exception. However we are still very much confident in our partner – the Republic of Moldova, and in the fact that the approximation to the European Union can and will continue. The best incentive that I can give you is that recently all 27 member states unanimously decided to plead in favour of opening the negotiations on Free and Comprehensive Trade Agreement with the Republic of Moldova. This will happen still this year as it has been promised at the Eastern Partnership Summit. After these negotiations will be finished our relation will be indeed on a different level than they are now. I would call it a "mature partnership".

Returning to the same survey conducted by the Institute for Public Policy, I saw that the number of those who would support a possible integration into the EU has fallen dramatically, being in free fall lately. Are you worried about this trend? Why does this happen?

As I said before I have limited trust in the surveys done in the Republic of Moldova. I am not sure whether they are representative. We would like of course the citizens to support the integration process.

It is both upon us and upon the Moldovan government to explain even better to the people what the objective is, what difficult steps have to be taken to get there, but also what end result could be achieved, namely in this moment in time a very close political association between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union and an economic integration. If we once have concluded the Association Agreement and the Free and Comprehensive Trade Agreement, Moldova would be practically integrated into the European internal market.  

Ion Toma