CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - In Moldova, it is increasingly difficult for opposition politicians to speak openly about the problems affecting what is now officially Europe's poorest country.

With almost no access to the airwaves of state-run TV, which is the only mass media outlet that reaches inhabitants in the remoter parts of the country, the opposition's criticism of the country's President Vladimir Voronin is blacked out by what effectively amounts to government censorship.

However, six political leaders managed to speak to news agency Info-Prim Neo, to give their views on the current situation in Moldova. In the interest of objectivity, Moldova's ruling party was also offered an open microphone. But they declined the invitation and refused to be interviewed. Here are excerpts of what the six opposition leaders said, courtesy of Info-Prim-Neo.

Liberal Democratic Party: "Moldova is not free and not democratic"

Speaking for Moldova's so-called Liberal Democratic Party, Party chairman Vladimir Filat is clear on one thing: Moldova is not a free and democratic country. But this, he hopes, could change next year.

" - In 2009, when the right and wrong will have a fight, we will offer the Moldovan people the chance of living in a free and democratic country," says Filat.

In the meantime, Moldova continues to live without a working justice system or a free press.

" - We have a legal system that does not do justice, but carries out orders," says Filat, and points to Moldova’s many convictions by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as examples. By contrast, ECHR has only pronounced itself against Transdniestria's justice system in one single instance.

" - As regards mass media, we have newspapers that have not been founded by the Government, but whose editorial policy is pro-governmental. We have a new Broadcasting Code, but the public radio and television stations became even greater promoters of the Communists. The halt in retransmitting TVR1 in Moldova is also relevant here," he says, referring to the government's ban on Romanian TV, which The Tiraspol Times wrote about in 2007. Currently, there is no such thing as a truly free press in Moldova: "We have a lot of work to do to make the justice in Moldova work properly and the mass media become free and inform not manipulate," says Filat.

Social Democrats: "Tired of lies, cynicism, disorder and wrongdoings"

Representing Moldova's Social Democratic Party, Dumitru Braghis, has demanded that Moldovan strongman Vladimir Voronin should resign from the post of President.

" - The country’s people are tired of the Communist administration, of their lies and cynicism, of the disorder and wrongdoings in the country," claims Braghis, who also accuses the government of having a chaotic and unfounded policy and a lack of strategic visions of the country’s future.

" - Moreover, most of the country’s people in 2007 became even poorer and the purchase power was diminished by the rising prices, high inflation and decreasing number of workplaces," Braghis says.

" - Moldova’s foreign policy is another failure. The Government continued with the same ineffective policy – to quarrel with all the people, first of all with the neighbors," he adds. "Our relations with Romania, Ukraine and Russia have worsened and we are now regarded as an arrogant and unreliable partner."

Moldova Noastra: "Independent press is obstructed"

The leader of the Moldova Noastra Alliance, Serafim Urecheanu, believes that almost all areas of Moldova are mismanaged by what is easily Europe's most corrupt and autocratic government.

" - Justice, freedom of the media and public broadcasting, the autonomy of the local public authorities, the political and electoral reforms, the control of public finances, the progress of the market economy, the cooperation with the civil society, the foreign relations and other areas – all of them witnessed negative developments generated by the Voronin Clan that remained in power and by the irrational laws adopted after some of the components of the parliamentary Opposition accepted services and public posts from the power in exchange for their votes," says Serafim Urecheanu.

Serafim Urecheanu is worried about growing media censorship and clampdown on free expression, where the situation improved in Transdniestria in 2007 but worsened significantly in Moldova.

" - In the previous years, the country’s administration at least pretended to be concerned about the reformation of the areas of justice and mass media. But in 2007 these formal efforts had been abandoned," says Urecheanu. "Instead, the independent press that counter-balances the Communist propaganda with its problems and concerns is obstructed and forced to deal with hostile economic conditions in order to develop."

Democratic Party: "It is difficult to find justice in Moldova"

The chairman of Moldova's self-styled Democratic Party, Dumitru Diacov, accuses the Vladimir Voronin-led government of accumulating power by highly undemocratic methods.

" - In the previous elections, they used all the possible and impossible methods – intimidation, blackmail, fabrication of legal cases etc. About 150 persons representing our party had been forced to give up running for mayor on behalf of the Democratic Party," says Diacov.

Diacov also commented on Moldova's dismal record in justice and mass media protection.

" - There is not much to say here because nothing was done. The situation in the broadcasting sector is a relevant example. You can see how our public and unbiased television promotes the new program of the Communist Party. It makes publicity for free from the money of the voters, including of those that do not support the present government," he said.

" - As regards the legal system... We have a sad situation here," Dumitru Diacov affirmed, noting that it is difficult to find justice in Moldova. "This is not only my opinion, but of the ordinary people too. It is difficult to find justice in Moldova. It will be very difficult to make the people believe again in the legal system."

National Liberal Party: "There are no human rights in Moldova"

According to Viatlia Pavlicenco, head of Moldova's National Liberal Party, her country's President should be impeached for his many crimes. She says that her party, which is known by its Romanian initials PNL has already proposed the initiation of impeachment proceedings against Voronin three times. The political leader, who is a Member of Parliament in Moldova, also thinks that the President is mentally unstable.

" - The latest statements made by the Communist Vladimir Voronin made many people think that he has serious health problems and needs a psychiatric examination," she says.

" - As MP, I must say that the adopted laws and the amendments to the laws have two meanings in the Parliament. One meaning is that the Communist Party wants to show the foreign observers and officials that though they are Communists, they have a reform-committed Government that implements liberal reforms," says Pavlicenco. "In general, this does not happen or the laws are applied in the interest of the governors and of Communists’ allies. The second meaning is the direct satisfaction of Communists’ clan interests in order to take everything under control, especially the segments that do not surrender to the mafiotic group from the presidential office, where there is the nucleus of corruption and of businesses that bring personal and electoral money designed to preserve the power for the Communists."

" - Moldova witnesses economic failure and the entire disastrous consequences will be evident only after the Communist regime collapses. The private sector cannot develop in continuation as the most successful businesses are impertinently appropriated by the children of the presidential family that started to gather the second billion, probably for grandchildren," says Pavlicenco.

" - Perhaps the investments have increased but not in the Moldovan state, but in the Voronin Family. As regards the real investments, Moldova is one of the last countries in Europe by this indicator," Pavlicenco affirms.

" - The so-called liberal reforms of Voronin were designed to launder the money of the persons protected by the communists, whose unpaid taxes had been forgiven, stimulating thus fiscal indiscipline in relation to the economic entities that are good managers and pay taxes fairly," says Pavlicenco.

" - As to human rights, experts’ reports say that we do not have something like this in the country; we do not have freedom of expression, public space for debates, justice. The League for the Defense of Human Rights of Moldova (LADOM) and the Civic Initiative for Defending and Promoting Human Rights in Moldova ascertained that the civil and political rights of the people were most often violated during 2006-2007. Until 2001, the people saw their social and economic rights most often violated," says Pavlicenco. "The rights are nowadays violated by the public functionaries and by representatives of the law enforcement bodies. I refer to the obstructed access to justice, violation of the right to life, human trafficking, discrimination, gender equality, right to freedom of association, access to information, freedom of the media, prisoners’ rights etc. "

" - It is a pity that we do not have more possibilities of holding public debates where the people could freely express their opinions about the happenings. The live broadcast of the Parliament’s meetings was halted in 2007. According to my information, this happened after we proposed setting up a commission that would investigate the legality of the property of Oleg Voronin, whose direct or indirect activities are reported on by the press," confirms Viatlia Pavlicenco.

" - I can make forecasts for 2008, but I would not say much. I think it will be a lost year. I think that 2008 will be unstable, unbalanced and of decline for our society," believes the leader of the Liberals.

As far as the legal system is concerned, she agrees with fellow MP Dumitru Diacov that it is hard to find justice in Moldova. This is because the majority of the courts follow the orders of corrupt government officials rather than the rule of law.

" - There are honest judges, but the number of cases lost at the ECHR and the refusal of the governmental agent to hold accountable the ones to blame for Moldova’s convictions in Strasbourg show that our legislation on the financing of justice is intentionally not observed in order to have the judges at the beck and call of the power. If we had fair trials, the imprisoned persons would be entirely different people," says Pavlicenco

Freedom of expression is another human right which is trampled in Moldova, where the situation in 2007 went from bad to worse. It is only in neighboring Transdniestria that the press has gotten more free, open and pluralistic.

" - I do not have much to say about mass media. I would probably have a question – who knows what will be the ratings of the politicians if they appear on the screen and in the studios of the public television on equal terms? No one can say. That’s why we do not have anything like this in Moldova. The objective and pluralistic informing of the people is not state policy in our country. If everyone had equal access to public press, the Communists would not be elected."

European Action: "Moldova doesn't produce anything"

According to Anatol Petrencu, the leader of Moldova's European Action Movement 2007 was a lost year for Moldova, which is dominated by an authoritarian regime.

" - 2007 is one of the years lost by our society that is under the domination of an authoritarian regime," says Petrencu, who accused the authorities of continuing their attacks on democratic values and undermining the economy of what is already Europe's poorest country.

" - No new workplaces had been created, while the salaries are miserable. The situation in agriculture is appalling: there are settlements with residents that live in conditions similar to those of the Early Middle Ages," according to Moldovan-born Petrencu.

" - Moldova does not produce anything: the soap, toothpaste and toothbrush, matches, lamps, office supplies and other goods are imported. Even the wheat and corn flour, the juices and a large part of the food products are imported," says Petrencu. The exception is highly-industrialized Transdniestria, which is not a 'de facto' part of Moldova and which has pursued a program of modernizing its industrial base. Unlike Moldova, Transdniestria produces clothes, footwear, building materials, but Petrencu rightly affirms that Transdniestria can not be considered part of Moldova anymore: "Clothes, footwear, building materials, with some exceptions, are produced outside Moldova," he says, affirming that Transdniestria is no longer part of Moldova in any practical sense of the word. "You get the impression that the Moldovans produce nothing visible."

" - The current government did nothing to change the things for the better in the country. Instead, the clan in power became even richer and the gap between the administration and people became even deeper," is how Anatol Petrencu summarizes his evaluation of the past year.

Moldova declared independence in 1991, after having been part of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1991. For the last two years, Moldova has obtained the dubious distinction of being labelled Europe's only failed state.

During its time in the Soviet Union, it was merged with Transdniestria (a historically non-Moldovan territory), which itself declared independence in 1990, one year before Moldova did.

Today, Transdniestria is governed independently of Moldova and functions as a "de facto" sovereign nation, notwithstanding a territorial claim by Moldova which Moldova has never been able to enforce. The 550,000 residents of Transdniestria are overwhelmingly against forced incorporation into Moldova, and prefer independence based on ethnic and historical grounds. (With information from Info-Prim Neo)

See also:
» New book lists Moldova as world's unhappiest country [1]
» Foreign investors flee Moldova over lack of democracy, constitutional protection [2]
» Son of Moldova's president defends his riches: "I don't steal other companies" [3]
» About Moldova [4]