The 11th Parliament Ends and Election Season Begins
Weekly Roundup: July 16, 2025
The 11th Parliament Has Ended its Mandate
The official term of this 11th Parliament began on election day July 11, 2021 and has now expired 4 years later. The country now has a caretaker parliament with oversight powers but with major limitations on passing new legislation until a new parliament begins its term with the September 28th elections.
The term expired after a marathon session with 79 bills voted for or amended in a single day. Watchdog organization Promo-Lex reported substantial lack of transparency in this final legislative push, noting that the agenda changed more than 300% and many bills were pushed through with limited floor debate, much less any time for public comment.
Moldova’s National Lawyers' Union has loudly protested one amendment which added 3 non-political appointees1, nominated by the Ministry of Justice, to the board of the National Bar Association. President of the Lawyers' Union, Dorin Popescu called this an "an unprecedented attack on the institution of the legal profession" and protested both the decision of the government to interfere in lawyers’ professional regulatory structure and the fact that this amendment was added at the last minute and not consulted with them.
Lawyers threatened strikes over the issue and were not satisfied with a discussion held at the Ministry of Justice where parliamentary representatives apologized for the lack of consultations. The lawyers were told that the amendments were meant to align with EU norms and that having been passed, they cannot be changed until the next parliament. Lawyers are now calling on President Sandu not to promulgate the law. In order to make this point they announced a strike from July 15th through the 25th with only work necessary for public safety being permitted by their members. The Presidency announced that they would review the bill and come back with a response in the next 14 days.
In less controversial news, parliament also approved the construction of a new “HiTech Park” on the last day of voting. The project creates a new structure, updating the law on industrial parks for modern tech jobs and adding new incentives to attract private investment. Under the plan, a “mini-city” for ICT will be constructed on around 50 hectares of land in the Chisinau suburb of Stauceni, across the street from the Chisinau Arena.
The project is designed as a 3-way partnership between public institutions, academia and the private sector. The HiTech Park will include offices, laboratories and research facilities, campuses for multiple universities, conference centers and residential areas. The goal is to open the park in the next 5 years and the legislative project estimates that 21,000 high earning jobs will be created. The project will be partially financed by the EU’s Moldovan Economic Growth Plan which has allocated €200 million euros for industrial and innovation zones. The new public company created to administer the park will begin taking possession of the allocated land in the next 30 days.
As journalists unpack more of the legislative bonanza that ended the 11th Parliament, we’ll likely come back with some additional stories. But for now, this parliament that started with the landslide PAS election of July 11th 2021 is over. The official election period began on July 14th and registrations for the new elections are underway.
Other Political and Foreign Affairs News
Here’s a roundup of the top political and foreign affairs stories of the past week:
Romanian President Nicușor Dan commented on Ion Ceban’s travel ban. He was asked by Romanian journalists about the process for instituting this ban, specifically whether the Supreme Council for National Defense had made the decision. President Dan responded no, that there are “other mechanisms through which the Romanian state reacts when it observes a threat to its national security.” He stated that he could not comment further, again reiterating that it was a national security matter. He was later asked about Mayor Ceban’s past meetings with high level Romanian officials, including the last Prime Minister, to which President Dan responded:
"This will not happen again in the next five years. This is a matter of national security - that's what I can tell you. An assessment was made regarding him, which confirmed the existence of a threat to national security,"
Mayor Ceban responded by saying of these statements: “He only mumbled and smiled ironically.” Mr. Ceban went on to reiterate that he had no official information on which institution initiated the ban or why. He called on the international community to put pressure on Romania in the matter.
Following his trip to Moscow, Igor Dodon traveled to Belarus. There he met with Lukashenko and promised close relations and trade with Belarus following Moldova’s elections2.
Orthodox Church schism escalates. The Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, which is part of the Romanian Orthodox Church, has called on the Romanian government to strip citizenship from priests of the Moldovan Metropolitanate, part of the Russian Orthodox Church, who support the war in Ukraine and hybrid attacks against Moldova. The Romanian linked church called out the hypocrisy of priests and bishops who preach Russia’s gospel of domination while using their EU passports to take pilgrimages and participate in EU funded programs inside Romania and other countries. Also this week, in the village of Grinautsi parishioners physically expelled a priest from his church after he announced that he had defected from the Moldovan Metropolitanate to the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia. The confrontation was caught on video and police were in attendance trying to manage the crowd. Local police representatives stated that "All those involved will be held accountable."
The government has approved the decision to rename the Chisinau International Airport after composer Eugene Doga. The decision will come into force as soon as it is published in the official monitor, but there is no timeline yet as to when the airport will be renamed or how this will work. Moldova’s most famous modern composer passed away on June 3rd at the age of 88.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released the final 2024 census results. After multiple delays the results of last year’s census are now public. Moldova has an official population of 2,409,200 “usual residents,” a decrease of 13.6% in the last decade since the 2014 census. 46.4% of Moldovans live in urban areas, an increase of 7.9% in 10 years. Much of this shift was driven by the growth of Chisinau in which 29.9% of the country’s population lives - up from 22.1%. Commenting on this point the NBS wrote: "Although the share of the urban population is continuously increasing, the Republic of Moldova remains practically the most rural country in Europe."
The US Embassy in Chisinau welcomed a new Chargé d'Affaires ad interim, Kevin Covert. Chargé Covert has been temporarily assigned to the embassy from his role as Director for Eastern European Affairs overseeing US missions to Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. He is a career Foreign Service Officer and has previously served in Chisinau in 2024. There is still no indication when Moldova will get an official ambassador as Democrats in the US Senate continue to slow nominations in protest of the dismantling of USAID, and the Trump Administration continues to radically downsize the State Department and America’s diplomatic corps more generally.
New Investigation Sheds Light on Shor’s Paramilitary Camps
Last year, immediately prior to the presidential elections and referendum on EU integration, Moldova’s National Police and Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) reported that Ilan Shor’s network was training young people to start riots and cause civil unrest. We wrote at the time how the authorities alleged that Shor’s NGO Eurasia transported more than a hundred young people from Moldova to Moscow under the guise of “cultural exchanges.” These people were then trained in exploiting protests in order to induce riots. A subset of people were recruited from this group for additional trainings in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. There they trained in drone piloting, releasing explosives / incendiaries by drone, small arms and the “mass psychology” of crowds.
This week investigative outlet Cu Sens released a new report on how this process was organized and who was involved. The report is extremely detailed and worth reading in full, here are some top line details:
At least 8, possibly more Moldovans attended training camps in the Republika Srpska from July - September 2024. There they received weapons, drones and explosive trainings which were to be used to exploit mass civil unrest organized by the Kremlin.
3 Moldovans have been charged, 1 man and 2 women. Vladimir Harcevnicov, 37, had previously been convicted of murdering a taxi driver and stealing his car when he was 17. Aliona Gotco, 34, has previously been accused of organized vandalism related to past Shor instigated disturbances. Ludmila Costenco, 53, has been identified as leading Shor related protests since 2022. All 3 deny their guilt and claim that their trips to Republika Srpska and the region were part of normal holidays. All three were detained at Moldovan customs October 11, 2024 along with 2 other people (one of whom is now a cooperating witness) driving a Mercedes. In the car were drones, VR headsets for piloting them, batteries, radio control equipment and written information on creating incendiary and explosive devices from common materials.
Cu Sens tracked the route traveled by these and other participants to the camps. They used convoluted combinations of flights, train rides and busses to get from Chisinau to Bosnia and Herzegovina. There they converged on the small mountain city of Banja Luka where they were met by multiple Bulgarians and Russians who took them to a camp near the city. One month before this, Russia opened a diplomatic mission in this town. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke at the opening stating:
“I am honored to greet you at the opening ceremony of the diplomatic office of the Russian Federation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the city of Banja Luka. With warmth in our hearts we see how strong and sincere the anti-fascist traditions are among the Serbian people. Here, we are on the same side of history, the only correct one.”
Co Sens reports that multiple trainers had ties to Wagner, others to Russian so-called occupation authorities in Ukraine. One, a Bulgarian named Mircho Angelov, escaped Moldova after vandalizing 20 ATMs in what police suspect was a test of their ability to respond to simultaneous provocations. He later vandalized the Holocaust memorial in Paris. Angelov has 14883 tattooed on his shins as well as swastikas and other Neo-Nazi symbols. Other trainers were linked to groups that hired Moldovans to vandalize buildings in France with Stars of David.
Moldovan prosecutors do not know the total number of people trained in the camps saying only that it is a “large number of people.” Asked "Does the danger still persist?" by Cu Sens journalists, Alexandru Musteata Director of SIS, refused to comment.
Other Shor / Hybrid War News
Here’s a roundup of the other top stories related to Shor and the Kremlin’s hybrid war against Moldova:
Prosecutors ask for a sentence of 13 years in Marina Tauber case. In closing arguments, prosecutors requested a lengthy prison sentence, a 5 year ban from holding public office or working in finance, and the confiscation of 206 million lei in assets. The trial, which relates to multiple instances of organized distribution of funds smuggled from Russia to Shor party activists, protestors, etc, is now in the final stages. Defense lawyers have not focused on refuting prosecutors claims and evidence, but instead relied on procedural arguments and delaying tactics. This has resulted in Tauber bouncing back and forth between pre-trial detention, house arrest, judicial control (aka travel restrictions) and back again. She received permission to travel abroad, often to Moscow, 12 times during the trial. This January all of these restrictions expired and she was free to go wherever she pleased. She left the country for Russia and has not returned.
Where are Alexandr Nesterovschi and Irina Lozovan? Back in March we covered how 2 MPs affiliated with Ilan Shor escaped Moldova right before they were to be sentenced to prison. At the time, it was understood that they were hiding in Transnistria. Senior government leaders have issued conflicting statements this week as to where they are now. Lilian Carp, PAS MP and Chair of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Public Order, stated in an interview that the fugitives were no longer in Transnistria but that they didn’t leave through “official channels.” He stated that it is unknown how they left the region and where they went. The next day, the Chief of the National Police Viorel Cernăuțeanu was asked to comment and reiterated that the authorities believe they are hiding in Transnistria and stated “I think they are waiting for the elections.” Speaker Grosu stated that he could not confirm whether or not the fugitives had left the region but that they are “on the left bank of the Nistru River” - meaning either in Transnistria, Ukraine or elsewhere east.
Police arrest individuals for organizing paid protests. The police released a video showing the arrest of a man who was passing out envelopes of money to protestors outside the court where Bashkan Gutsul’s trial was ongoing. They later announced 3 arrests related to similar activities outside Marina Tauber’s court hearing. In both cases police put out a statement supporting “the right of citizens to assemble” but warning that paid protest is against the law.
Ilan Shor’s “Pobeda” (Victory) Block filed documents to participate in the elections. The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) will review their application4.
The EU sanctions Dumitru Buimistru and Veaceslav Valico. In addition to the sanctions against Shor affiliates and companies announced last week, the EU has sanctioned Dumitru Buimistru for participating in “synchronized disinformation” campaigns as the main propagandist on Ilan Shor’s MD24 online news channel. They also sanctioned “civic activist” Veaceslav Valico for his role diseminating disinformation as part of “malicious hybrid activities of the Russian Federation.” Valico has acted as a sort of activist / provocateur for hire for many years, having been affilated at one time or another with Plahotniuc, Shor, and Platon.
“Non-political appointees” sounds a bit like an oxymoron. In theory they should be drawn from academia and professional groups, rather than from active politics or parties.
Igor Dodon travels to Moscow constantly, Belarus occasionally and when he wants to take a vacation he brings his family to the EU. He never manages to make the trip to Ukraine however, Moldova’s largest neighbor and a very key trading partner. I wonder why?
If you’re unaware of this symbol see the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) description here.
Given the dissolution of the Shor Party, and electoral regulations against successor parties to those deemed unconstitutional, it is exceedingly unlikely that this bloc will be registered.