Moldova 1999

Yearbook 1999

Moldova. In February, Prime Minister Ion Ciubuc resigned as he considered it impossible to keep the rival parties in the coalition together. After just over a month of cow trading, Deputy Prime Minister Ion Sturza succeeded in forming a new coalition government, which was approved by Parliament with 57 votes to 37. The economically friendly Sturza led a center-right government with the Movement for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova, the Renewal Party and Moldova.

Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Moldova. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared in August that M. could issue parts of a loan approved three years earlier. The condition, however, was that the economic reforms went according to plan. The IMF was satisfied with the privatization process, but expressed concern over the country’s high national debt and the delays in the payment of the foreign debt. In early November, the IMF declared that the wine and tobacco industry must be privatized and the budget revised in order for the loan to be triggered. The IMF called on Parliament to approve the proposals that had previously been rejected. Ion Sturza threatened with the government’s departure if the IMF’s terms were not approved. Parliament voted against the proposal and the IMF decided to freeze the loan. The government faced mistrust in Parliament, lost the vote and was forced to resign.

• Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of MDA which stands for Moldova and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.

It proved difficult to gather support for a new government leader. The president gave the assignment to Valerij Babutsak, but Parliament voted him down. In early December, Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin was given the assignment instead, but he also did not get enough support in Parliament. Moldova thus went on a politically and financially troubled winter. Because the country did not pay its bills, Russian gas giant Gazprom had halved the deliveries to Moldova.

In November, the Russian army began to withdraw old Soviet weapons arsenal from Transnistria, where large arms stocks remained after the Soviet Union’s dissolution and Moldova’s independence in 1991. At the OSCE summit in Istanbul, the Russian Federation promised to withdraw all its troops from Moldova at the latest at the end of 2002.

History. – The political and institutional instability and the tensions between pro-Russian, pro-Western and pro-Western that had characterized Moldova since the collapse of the Soviet Union continued to distinguish the country. Despite the tensions with the opposition, the Partidul Comuniștilor din Republica Moldova (Party of the Communists of the Republic of Moldova, PCRM) continued to be the most voted party: it tried to stem the autonomist pressures, while in foreign policy it passed from pro-Russian positions to a ‘ opening to the European Union. However, the PCRM government, in office since 2001, became increasingly unpopular: Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev resigned in March 2008 and was replaced by party mate Zinaida Greceanîi, Moldova’s first female prime minister.

In the elections of April 2009, the PCRM (49.5%) was confirmed as the first party in the country, but, despite the opinion of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), the results were judged by the opposition spoiled by fraud: this gave rise to demonstrations and street clashes. The elections of July 2009 saw the victory of the pro-Western coalition Alliance for European Integration (IEA), which included the liberal Democrat Partidul Liberal Democrat din Moldova (PLDM; 16.6%), the liberal Partidul Liberal (PL; 14.7%)), the Social Democrat Partidul Democrat din Moldova (PDM; 12.5%), and the socioliberal Alianţa Moldova Noastră (AMN; 7.35%). In September 2009, the new prime minister, Vlad Filat (PLDM), took office, while the election of the new president of the Republic was suspended because the IEA had not obtained the 61 seats (out of 101) necessary.

After the failure of the referendum to introduce the direct election of the head of state (Sept. 2010), new elections were called: even if the PCRM (39.2%) remained the first party, the AIE prevailed again (PLDM 29, 4%, PD 12.7%, PL 10%; the AMN did not obtain seats and dissolved in 2011), which however stopped at 59 seats. The impasse on the election of the President of the Republic continued until March 2012, when the pro-European magistrate Nicolae Timofti was elected.

Between 2010 and 2011, the Moldovan political system was shaken by the friction between the IEA parties, which produced a government crisis (March 2011) and by the accession of a part of the PCRM deputies to the small pro-Russian party Partidul Socialiştilor din Republic of Moldova (PSRM). In the November 2014 elections, the PSRM (20.5%) established itself as the first party, followed by PLDM (20.2%), PCRM (17.5%), PDM (15.8%) and PL (9, 7%). Confidence denied to outgoing Prime Minister Iurie Leancă, Parliament granted it (February 2015) to the government chaired by Chiril Gaburici, who resigned however in June. After a brief interim from Natalia Gherman, the post was taken over by Valeriu Streleț, of PLDM.

Moldovan politics also continued to be conditioned by the question of Transnistria, the pro-Russian region which became de facto independent in 1990. Moldova’s requests to restore territorial integrity continued to constitute a reason for tension with Russia, aggravated by Moldovan accession. to the Association Agreement with the EU, (signed in June 2014), which created a free trade area. Problems also remained with relations with Romania, with which a part of the Moldovans would have liked unification, strongly opposed by the PCRM.