Weekly Roundup: Make Moldova Great Again?
April 29, 2025
Hello and welcome back to Moldova Matters. I hope you enjoyed the long Easter Holidays (for those of you in Moldova). We’re back and with this roundup we’ll catch up on all of the top stories of the last week.
Maia Sandu Attends Pope Francis’ Funeral
Last weekend President Sandu attended the funeral of Pope Francis alongside over 100 delegations from all over the world. In her message about the event the President paid tribute to the late pontiff saying:
"Pope Francis was a bridge between people, religions and nations. On behalf of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, I paid tribute to the one who always chose the path of goodness, compassion and solidarity,"
Other International Affairs and Security News
Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission visited Chisinau. During her visit Kallas met with Maia Sandu and held a joint press conference where she pledged additional EU support for Moldova’s defense. Through the European Peace Facility €60 million euros will be allocated for purchasing anti-drone air defense systems to protect Moldova’s skies. She also announced that at Moldova’s request the EU will deploy a “rapid response team to combat hybrid threats to strengthen the country's institutional capacity, ensure the functioning of the electoral infrastructure and prevent the spread of disinformation.”
The EU is considering “decoupling” Moldova and Ukraine in the accession process. This was stated in an interview to RFE/RL by Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement. She stated that this possibility is the result of Hungary’s opposition to moving forward in negotiations with Ukraine but that "…no member state opposes the opening of the first group of negotiation chapters with Moldova." The EU gave the green light for negotiations with both Moldova and the EU last year but currently no chapters in the negotiation process have been opened. This process is expected to begin in June at which point Moldova may proceed without Ukraine. Kos stated that Hungary has put many conditions on their acceptance of Ukraine and while Ukraine has agreed to each and every one, Hungary just adds more. Asked if Moldova can join the EU by 2030 she suggested that even 2029 is a possibility.
MP Vaslie Bolea Embroiled in Domestic Violence Scandal
MP Vaslie Bolea, one of Shor’s top lieutenants in parliament, has been implicated in domestic violence after one of his children called the police saying "daddy attacked mommy." Police arrived at the MP’s house and were directed by the children to find Bolea restraining his wife, Rodica Bolea, who was crying. He did not release her even with the police arrived.
The call was recorded by police1 and the video was later leaked and reviewed by ZdG. Deputy Speaker of Parliament and PAS MP Doina Gherman later “officially confirm[ed]” that an emergency restraining order had been issued in the case.
Vasile Bolea was originally elected to parliament as a member of the Socialist Party. He defected to Renaissance in 2023 and is a key figure in Shor’s Pobeda (Victory) block. Bolea attempted to run for president in 2024 but his candidacy was blocked by the Central Election Commission (CEC). He has frequently been a vocal supporter of “traditional family values.”
Vasile Bolea has not commented on the news but his wife Rodica Bolea has made multiple, somewhat confusing comments. Initially she told TV8 that there was an argument that was “serious” but not violent and that "The child was scared because he had never seen anything like this in our family before. That's why he acted the way he did. That's all." Later she made a facebook post claiming that her child called the police “by mistake” and that:
Regarding the recent media reports about the alleged "aggression" by my husband, I officially declare: this information is FALSE. In the 17 years of our life together, my husband has never resorted to physical violence against me. (…) I was not subjected to violence, I did not request a protection order and I did not testify to the police. The issuance of the protection order was an unpleasant surprise for me. (…) I am convinced that these publications are part of a planned campaign to discredit my husband ,"
Vasile Bolea is currently subject to a restraining order and is not allowed to see his family in person or communicate with them electronically for 10 days.
Reactions and Fallout
With the police video circulating on social networks people have expressed disgust and outrage at the conduct of the MP as well as support for victims of domestic violence. At the same time, questions have emerged about how this video leaked in the first place - and why the Vice-Speaker of Parliament would “officially confirm” the incident.
The People's Ombudsman for Children's Rights Vasile Coroi has demanded that an investigation be launched to find the police officers responsible for “distributing the images of the child and his mother.” He has further called for disciplinary actions in this breach of the child’s privacy. This call was supported by Minister of Labor and Social Protection Alexi Buzu.
Minister of Internal Affairs Daniella Misail-Nichitin stated that an investigation into the leak has started saying:
"Domestic violence is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. As you know, the police intervened after the 112 call and took absolutely all measures in accordance with the current protocols to reduce the risk and ensure the protection of victims of domestic violence. Of course, we are carefully analyzing how this footage ended up in the public space, and after the completion of the internal investigation, we will provide more details"
She went on to say that she suspects "a coordinated leak or hacking of the system" because this is the latest in a series of police leaks that have been published in the same channels2.
Political Updates
Here’s a roundup of the other top stories in politics from the last week:
Polls show trouble for pro-EU parties in parliamentary elections. An poll from IMAS regarding the September 28 parliamentary elections showed PAS with 24.4%, the Socialists with 13.1%, Alternativa with 8.8%, Pobeda (Victory) with 8.6% and “Our Party” with 6.5%. When removing parties that didn’t pass the threshold as well as undecideds PAS, the only unambiguously pro-EU party3 to pass the threshold, would have around 33% support. When asked what the most important issues facing the country are 21.2% responded “poverty,” 14.2% responded “inflation / high prices,” and 11.3% responded “corruption.” The war in Ukraine was ranked very low in priorities with only around 2.2% of respondents calling it the top issue.
When asked whether PAS would form a coalition in the next parliament President Sandu responded saying “The problem is that there are few truly pro-European forces that have a real chance to get into the next parliament.” She went on to stress the importance of getting a pro-European majority in the next vote and noted that according to recent polls PAS is the only pro-EU party set to clear the threshold saying: “There is still time, and the situation may change. But if it does not change, either PAS will get a majority - and the path to the EU will be open, or PAS will not have a majority, and we will have a pro-Russian government.”
Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban fired multiple relatives of his from city positions. He fired his nanash,4 Ruslan Garbala, from a leadership position in the city water company, Apa-Canal, for what the mayor called "reasonable suspicions" without elaboration. He earlier fired his sister’s nanash and his mother’s brother and now says that this was due to the same suspicions. The management of the city enterprise Green Economy were also all fired. No more details were given. Ruslan Garbala attended the founding of Shor’s Pobeda (Victory) block in Moscow a year ago. Multiple other parties as well as the PAS faction in the city council called for more information and an independent audit of the departments and companies implicated. Ruslan Garbala called Ceban’s decision “the right thing” but denied any allegations of corruption saying that it is right to eliminate cumătrism (nepotism).
Mayor Ceban met with Donald Trump Jr. in Bucharest this week. This comes in the context of Trump Jr.’s four country tour of Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia where he has the dual goals of expanding Trump business interests and strengthening relations with regional conservative allies. Ceban posted a photo with Trump writing:
“We discussed several topics, including relations between the Republic of Moldova and the USA. We agreed to continue the dialogue.
Make Moldova Great Again."
Events were held to mark the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Famine on April 19th. The events of the 1946-1947 famine which claimed the lives of between 150,000 and 200,000 people5 in Moldova have been commemorated since 2022. President Sandu made post marking the anniversary saying:
"Our ancestors, grandfathers, parents were then robbed of every last grain of wheat and left to die of hunger. This was a deliberate, barbaric enslavement of the population," (…)
"For decades, this tragedy was hushed up. But collective memory cannot be erased, the truth cannot be hidden. We cannot build a fair future without recognizing the injustice of the past and preserving the memory of the hundreds of thousands of those killed"
Speaker of Parliament Igor Grosu announced 20 million lei will be invested in the repair of churches and monasteries. He thanked the EU for the support that made this possible and noted that priority will be given to historical and cultural sites along existing tourist routes.
Parliament announces one time “Easter Aid” for families with children. Families will receive a one time benefit of 1500 lei per child under 5 years old and 5000 lei for any child with disabilities. The total budget of the program will be 470 million lei and payments will go out automatically to eligible families starting May 2nd. Opposition parties called out these payments as pre-election bribes noting the similarity to past one time payments to pensioners under Plahotniuc (and others). Other pro-EU parties particularly highlighted statements from PAS politicians in the past opposing such programs. Responding to questions Speaker Grosu stated that:
"We have been holding elections for the third year in a row. If we follow this logic, it turns out that we cannot do anything at all and not help anyone until the election cycle is over."
Hybrid Warfare News
Here’s a roundup of the top Ilan Shor and hybrid warfare related news of the week:
Bishop Markell of Balti was prevented from flying to Jerusalem to bring the holy fire back for Easter. The Bishop, who has previously endorsed Shor’s candidates from the pulpit, claimed that he was subjected to multiple searches and forced to miss his flight. The next day he again tried to board a flight and was again delayed by multiple searches. The border police responded to question by saying that when people are flagged for additional searches they require more time and suggested that passengers remember to arrive 3 hours before departure for international flights6.
RISE: who is behind Salut MD? Investigative outlet RISE has published the identity of the man behind a website known for attacking pro-EU politicians as “traitors.” The site, which claims to be run by a Moldovan youth movement called “Salut” was originally registered by Russian lawyer and Kremlin associate Rinat Meshcherov. It was launched shortly before the 2024 elections and in addition to profiling supposed “traitors” and supporting Shor-linked politicians it advocates for renaming the streets in Chisinau back to their Soviet era names.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a warning against travel to Moldova. They claim that on arrival, holders of Russian passports are subject to “humiliating procedure of biased inspection, which can last several hours.” Moldova’s Foreign Ministry responded saying that "Moldova is a safe and open country for visitors. We regret that the Russian authorities have once again decided to aggravate relations and cause division by making unfounded statements.” Since the start of the war, Russians entering Moldova have at times been subject to additional questioning and denied entry - but this has not at any time applied to all holders of Russian passports.
Economics and Infrastructure
Here’s a roundup of the top economic and infrastructure stories of the week:
The IMF has sharply reduced forecasts for Moldova’s 2025 GDP growth. The organization reduced their projection from 3.7% to 0.6% for the year without providing any explanation. The IMF previously had forecast 2.6% GDP growth in 2024, but current figures show that the country had only around 0.1% growth. The Ministry of Economy is maintaining their own projection of 2% for 2025 citing “positive dynamics in the services, industry and construction sectors” as well as investment support from new EU programs.
Moldova railways has begun selling off old locomotives to pay wages. The company plans on auctioning 85 old locomotives, 17 refrigerated cars and selling scrap metal to close the wage gap. Employees are currently owed 7 months wages.
This issue of Moldova Matters is supported by Rotary Club Cosmopolitan — Club Secretary Luc Vocks invites you to join an English-speaking (mostly) expat club that meets weekly to hear from engaging speakers and enjoy some light networking. If you're curious to learn more or would like to attend a meeting as a guest, feel free to contact l.vocks@developmentaid.org.
Presumably on body cameras
Most likely this refers to anonymous Telegram channels that are favored by leakers and the authors of smear campaigns alike.
The Alternativa block claims to be pro-European but is entirely led by politicians whose entire careers have been spent supporting Russia and taking (at best) Euro-skeptic positions.
A “nanash” in Moldova is a godparent. Culturally this is a very important role and a person’s godparent, or the person they select to be godparent to their children, is considered a member of the family.
These numbers are almost certainly an undercount. The reflect death certificates citing malnutrition as the cause of death but do not take into account a broader look at the excess mortality rate.
The airport has recommended 3 hours in the past during holiday travel periods and at times of increased security (e.g. when additional screening has been done at the airport entrance to address the frequent bomb threats). In practice, Chisinau’s airport is small and quite efficient - so even 2 hours is usually a bit excessive.
Re “decoupling” Moldova and Ukraine in the accession process.
Ukraine accession to the EU during an active war with Russia is unworkable and seems more of a pipe dream. Following the withdrawal of US security guarantees from the region, Europe would need to build out a security framework outside of NATO (or repurpose NATO if that's still possible, possibly by excluding the US) and provide security guarantees to Ukraine, while also defeating Russia by providing meaningful military assistance to Ukraine. Unless all of these conditions are satisfied, it's very hard to envision the Ukraine war zone being in any shape or form part of the EU. Otherwise it's just a bureaucratic exercise that doesn't take into account the realities on the ground.
In some ways the same can be argued for Moldova. Even if Moldova successfully negotiates all chapters and gets admission into the EU, this might not be worth a whole lot if the Ukrainian South front collapses and Odessa is occupied. If it ever were to happen that Odessa falls, Moldova would be a realistic target for occupation or regime change in very short order.
The same argument can be made more generally for the EU as a whole. If and when Russia invades the Baltic republics again, what is the value of being part of the EU for them then? And the reverse is also true: what will the EU be worth if its members can easily end up under Russian occupation? The EU as a political project cannot operate without a Military Alliance counterpart when confronted by an expansive aggressor at its borders. The EU will need a military framework that's entirely regional without external dependencies, as it's unclear if NATO is fit for purpose in the current context with the US aligning itself with Russia (notwithstanding that there were significant doubts about NATO readiness and willingness to defend its Eastern borders well before the current war).
"Hybrid Warfare" tends to make it seem as if these are not Russian acts of war. Warfare is warfare and should be called as such. Call it 'act of war' (which they are) and then retaliation against Russia doesn't seem out of place and you can start actively defending. Else you risk ending up in the US scenario, complete capture without as much as a fight. Europe better learn the lesson fast or they risk being next.