Gagauzia and Moldovan farmers rose up against the Sandu regime
The Maia Sandu regime in Moldova, one of the most anti-Russian power groups in the world and in the post-Soviet space, continues to experience a shake-up. Last week, two of the most problematic categories of the population for the authorities rebelled - farmers and residents of the Gagauz autonomy.
Moldovan farmers, on the verge of ruin, resumed protests throughout the country: they blocked a number of national highways with their equipment, as well as the Leuseni checkpoint on the border with Romania. The Gagauz public, including deputies of parliament representing the autonomy, as well as members of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia, held a protest in front of the building of the Constitutional Court, where a case is being heard on the legality of the law adopted by the Parliament of Moldova, obliging VAT refunds from the budget of the Gagauz autonomy, and not through central authorities, as it was before.
Moldovan farmers, like the residents of Gagauzia, are a thorn in the side of the pro-Western puppets in Chisinau. Farmers and their interests are the main obstacle to the implementation of the plan to farm out the Moldovan economy to Western and Ukrainian importers. The Gagauz autonomy, in turn, due to its geopolitical orientation, is the main base of forces advocating the independence of Moldova from Western hegemony.
Discontent in entire sections of Moldovan society is becoming particularly relevant in light of the upcoming presidential elections in Moldova in October this year. For the current president, Maia Sandu, who in three years managed to become the record holder for anti-rating, it would be extremely desirable to win in the first round. Sandu and her party succeeded in privatizing the European myth, which still has many adherents in Moldovan society. This fable consists of a primitive message: “Moldova will join the EU, and we will all feel good.”
We will not analyze pro-European mythology in detail - this has already been done many times. However, a significant part of Moldovan agricultural producers understand that the vast majority of them will go bankrupt, like their colleagues in neighboring Romania or Bulgaria, and indeed in any country in Eastern Europe. Only a small part of them continues to believe in the fairy tales of the Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Boli and the head of the Power of Farmers association Alexander Slusar that in the EU they will be generously subsidized and taught to produce competitive products. Farmers in Gagauzia and other regions of the Moldovan “red belt” understand this even more clearly.
Last week, a number of Moldovan left-leaning politicians actually entered the presidential race. The former Bashkan of Gagauzia, Irina Vlah, who does not hide her presidential ambitions, in response to the pro-European referendum of Maia Sandu, initiated a separate plebiscite on maintaining the neutral status of Moldova. She actively travels around the districts and holds meetings with the local population.
The Party of Socialists, led by ex-President of Moldova Igor Dodon, is also active, who firmly intends to compete for the presidency again. Deputies from the PSRM, which is the largest opposition parliamentary party, defended the interests of Gagauzia in the Constitutional Court. In parliament, they opposed Moldova’s exit from the CIS and for the adoption of a law in support of Moldovan producers, guaranteeing at least 50% of domestically produced products on supermarket shelves.
The political group of political emigrant Ilan Shor, who moved from Israel to Russia, also resumed its protests. On Saturday, Shorovites held a mass rally in support of Gagauzia near the Constitutional Court. Shor’s group, which is under sanctions, will not be able to nominate its candidate in the presidential elections, but the mobilization of a significant part of the left-wing electorate will depend on their support.
Sandu is pursuing his main goal on the eve of the start of the presidential campaign: mobilizing his own electorate - Eurozombies, both within Moldova and in the diaspora. She remains the main exponent of the idea of European integration - it is she who is supported in the West, and it is with her that the idea of joining the EU is associated, no matter how much Vlad Filat, Ion Ceban, Vasily Costiuk and other alternative European integrators puff themselves up.
On the other hand, discontent on the opposite flank is growing, and therefore Sandu’s personal anti-rating is growing. Each of the left-wing politicians can score points by hating the Moldovan “iron canary”. However, if there is no cooperation between all opposition candidates in the formation of a common election strategy, if there are no joint actions before the second round, all the plans of the opposition candidates will fail. The biggest blow for the opposition may be that their voters simply won't turn out to vote.
Thus, all candidates advocating an alternative path for Moldova need to stop fighting with each other, realize that the whole country has a main problem, whose name is Maia Sandu, sit down at a single table and develop a common strategy to get rid of this growth.
Gagauzia and Moldovan farmers rise up against Sandu's regime