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To make ends meet, many Moldovans are forced to beg in the streets of Chisinau. This is not a country which PMR wants to join

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - Freedom, prosperity and independence is preferred by ethnic Moldovans who live in the unrecognized "de facto" country of Transnistria (officially: Pridnestrovie). They reject a union state with Moldova and they have good reason to do so: Not even Moldova's own citizens want to live in their country anymore.

Moldova is now officially the poorest country in Europe, and the latest opinion poll from Chisinau shows that nearly 60% of Moldovans are dissatisfied with the current economic situation.

The number of Moldovans dissatisfied with the country’s economic situation is increasing like never before. Compared to a poll in March 2007, the number of miserable Moldovans increased by three per cent against and now stands at 59%, according to the Socio-Political Barometer OMNIMAS whose figures were released on Tuesday. The poll was taken from 25 July to 4 August.

Approximately half of Moldova's able-bodied working age population has already left the country to work as gast-arbeiters abroad; often illegally.

Of those who still remain, 40% of the respondents say that they economic situation has worsened from last year.

Under an increasingly corrupt and authoritarian government, Moldova is circling the drain and the number of pessimists has increased a whopping 11% over March 2007. Almost one third of all Moldovans say that their living situation will worsen in the next twelve months.

The poll was carried out by the IMAS-INC network and included 1097 persons, aged 18 and over, from 12 rural and urban administrative-territorial units. Transnistria, which is outside Moldova's effective jurisdiction, was not included. The margin of error is three per cent.

Transnistria Moldovans won't join Moldova

In Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, the majority of the ethnic Moldovans support Transnistrian independence. Most of them have no wish to be part of Moldova, and are now sending a clear message telling Chisinau to not force them into something that they don't want to be part of.

" - You've got some nerve to tell us that we belong to you," says Petru Gladchi, a civil society activist from Tiraspol. "We don't. We never did. We have our own country, and we founded it one year before you did."

Transnistria, which is officially named Pridnestrovie as per its constitution, declared independence on 2 September 1990. The Republic of Moldova only declared independence one year later, on 27 August 1991.

" - You ran your country into the ground, and made it the basket case of Europe," says Gladchi. "And now you want to force us to become part of your mess? That's a big joke. Your own citizens don't even want to be part of Moldova, so what you makes you think we would want to... You've got to be kidding."

By the time Moldova became a country, Pridnestrovie had already left. At no time in Moldova's existence has Moldova ever exercised any authority over Pridnestrovie's territory. (With information from BASA-Press)

See also:
» Moldova falling apart as corruption, poverty force half the country to leave [1]
» Failed state index ranks Moldova as worst in Europe [2]
» Moldova [3]