Prime Minister of Moldova Natalia Gavrilitsa resigned yesterday.

“I leave with a sense of accomplishment and with a calm heart.

I have the honor to lead the government of this country, and I will continue to serve my people together with a team of people I trust, ”the Moldovan news agency Infotag quotes her statement at a briefing for journalists.

According to the country's constitution, the departure of the prime minister implies the resignation of the entire government.

President Maia Sandu accepted the Cabinet's resignation and nominated her security adviser Dorin Recean as a candidate for prime minister.

His candidacy has already been supported by Sandu's Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), which now controls parliament.

Speaking to journalists, the Moldovan President named the priorities of the future government.

Thus, according to her, the movement towards the EU, the consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, and improving the standard of living of citizens remain the fundamental goals for the country's leadership.

“I decided that we need to move faster, strengthen our capabilities through the appointment of a new government.

Now is a difficult time for the whole world.

And our task is not only to survive, but also to develop and move forward.

The economy and security of the country needs a second wind,” Sandu said.

  • Maia Sandu and Dorin Recean

  • AP

  • © Aurel Obreja

"The result of the protest movement"

The opposition commented on the resignation of the Cabinet.

Thus, the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) called this measure a “belated” decision.

“For 18 months, we have repeatedly stated that this is the weakest, most unprofessional and irresponsible government in the history of the Republic of Moldova.

In the history of the country, this cabinet will remain as a "government without achievements," said PSRM Executive Secretary Vlad Batrincha.

From his point of view, "no amount of cosmetic changes will solve the problems" and any government supported by the PAS will be doomed.

In turn, the former president of Moldova and a member of the PSRM, Igor Dodon, noted that in order to get out of the deep crisis in which the country found itself, it is necessary to hold early elections.

“I have long said that the government of Natalia Gavrilitsa is not coping and is responsible for the difficult situation in which our country finds itself.

However, his resignation is not enough: in order to bring the country out of a deep crisis, a complete change of power is needed through early parliamentary elections, which almost all opposition parties insist on, ”TASS quoted Dodon as saying.

The leader of the opposition Shor party, Ilan Shor, for his part, called Gavrilitsa's resignation the result of the protest pressure of the past six months.

“What happened today is the result of the protest movement over the past six months.

The government of Gavrilitsa was the most unprepared in all the years of independence of Moldova, ”RIA Novosti quoted Shor as saying.

Shor also called for early elections in the country.

“We demand the immediate dissolution of parliament and the announcement of early parliamentary elections.

This power no longer represents the interests of the citizens of Moldova.

This is a junta controlled by Western offices that has brought the people of the republic to its knees,” the politician said.

In state of emergency

Recall that the government headed by Gavrilitsa was formed in August 2021 by the Action and Solidarity party, which won the early elections held in the same year.

The work of the Cabinet of Ministers was accompanied by a deterioration in socio-economic indicators in Moldova.

Against this background, mass protests began in the country last summer.

According to the opposition, the number of participants in the largest demonstrations reached 60-70 thousand people.

  • Police officers detain a participant in an opposition protest on November 6, 2022 on a street in Chisinau.

    More than 50 thousand people took part in the rally

  • RIA News

  • © Rodion Proka

The participants in the rallies were supporters of the Shor party and the BCS parliamentary faction (Block of Communists and Socialists).

The demonstrators accused the Gavrilitsa government of failing to deal with the crisis.

In particular, at a rally at the end of November last year in Chisinau, protesters opposed the decision of the National Agency for Energy Regulation to increase electricity tariffs by an average of 20%.

Citizens' dissatisfaction was also caused by inflation, record-breaking over the past 20 years - 34%, as well as a multiple increase in prices for energy resources, food and other goods.

In addition, the country's leadership has been criticized for its unwillingness to negotiate better gas prices with Russia.

The government responded to opposition actions with repressions.

In October 2022, police special forces forcibly dispersed the tent city, which had been in the square between the parliament buildings and the presidential administration since September.

A number of opposition leaders, including Igor Dodon and Vice-Chairman of the Shor party Marina Tauber, were arrested.

Criminal cases were instituted against almost half of the deputies of parliament from the socialists.

In addition, in November last year, the government of Gavrilitsa sent a request to the Constitutional Court to ban the Shor party.

As the Minister of Justice in the Cabinet of Ministers of Gavrilitsy Sergey Litvinenko stated, Shor should be held accountable for the alleged attempt to destabilize the situation in the country.

To date, the COP has not yet made a decision on this issue.

In addition, due to the energy crisis in Moldova, a state of emergency has been in effect since October 2022.

It gives the Commission for Emergency Situations the right to introduce rationed consumption of natural gas and other energy sources, allocate funds from the budget, as well as coordinate the work of the media and take other emergency measures.

During the state of emergency, the Moldovan authorities suspended the licenses of the TV channels Primul în Moldova, RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6 and Orhei TV.

As explained by the head of the Moldovan Broadcasting Council (STR) Liliana Vitsu, the main reason for the suspension of broadcasting of TV channels was that they allegedly did not cover the conflict in Ukraine.

According to her, this could be regarded as "propaganda by silence." 

In addition, the STR imposes penalties on the media.

Thus, in February, the council fined the TV channel REN TV Moldova for 30,000 lei (about 116,000 rubles).

The reason again was "propaganda by silence".  

The Russian Foreign Ministry regarded the blocking of Russian-language resources by the Moldovan authorities as a gross violation of citizens' rights to access information and called on Chisinau to abandon discriminatory practices. 

"Influenced by the European Union"

According to experts, the situation in Moldova under the government of Gavrilitsa has seriously degraded.

“In all aspects, the situation has deteriorated significantly.

This does not require a deep economic analysis - this is obvious to everyone who lives in Moldova.

This is noticeable in the level of prices and the provision of basic amenities to the population.

The situation was also aggravated by the fact that the government was involved in all sorts of intrigues against the key gas supplier to the country, Gazprom, ”said Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Committee of the State Duma on CIS Affairs, in an interview with RT.

He suggested that the purpose of the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers of Gavrilitsa was to shift all the blame for the problems in the country to the outgoing government and thereby divert criticism from President Sandu.

“The reason for the resignation of the government is to try to prove that “the tsar is good, and the boyars are bad,” that is, the president is good, but the government failed in some way, and it is it that is to blame for the decline in living standards” Zatulin says.

He also drew attention to the fact that against the backdrop of socio-political problems in the country, Sandu and her associates set a course to unfreeze the Transnistrian conflict.

“Sandu, the owner of two passports - Romanian and Moldovan, today is increasingly taking the path of resuming the Transnistrian conflict.

The most striking example of this is the adopted amendments to the Criminal Code, which a priori accuse all citizens of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic of separatism.

That is, they are doomed to trial, investigation and prison - and this is a direct step towards the beginning of the conflict, ”said Zatulin.

Analysts believe that cabinet reshuffles are unlikely to improve the situation in Moldova.

“Changing leadership will not fix anything.

This is a half-measure, since the ruling party has remained the same.

There will simply be a change of pieces on the political board, and the content of politics will remain the same.

So the confrontation between the government and the population will continue, as will the government’s attempts to suppress the opposition, ”said Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, in an interview with RT.

“The sum does not change from a change in the places of the terms.

So the pro-Western government will remain at the helm in Moldova, headed by the pro-Western president, who will not resign in any way, ”Zatulin notes.

He also skeptically assessed the prospects for holding early elections in Moldova.

“I agree that under the current conditions, the course followed by the president and the government of Moldova will not lead to anything good for the country.

Can elections fix this?

I can’t say this unequivocally, because today Moldova is acting under the influence of the European Union and the US Embassy in Chisinau, which actually gives out instructions on how to act, how to live and what to strive for,” the expert concluded.