Moldovan gov’t resigns after PM steps down
Moscow, Feb 10 (EFE).- The Moldovan cabinet resigned on Friday after prime minister Natalia Gavrilita announced she was stepping down.
“After a year and a half in office, I am announcing my resignation,” Gavrilita said at a press conference, according to state media.
The Moldovan politician said her cabinet had “governed in a regime of continuous crisis.”
“We took over a government in crisis and had a pro-development, anti-corruption and pro-EU integration policy. We were immediately faced with energy blackmail and they thought we would give in, that we would do like the previous Governments who betrayed the national interest, but it was not so,” she added.
Gavrilita said that despite the crises, major progress had been made with the nation’s integration into the European Union.
“We have agreed on a plan to start the integration procedures by the end of this year. People deserve to enjoy the benefits of EU integration that they have been deprived of for the past 30 years. I am convinced that Moldova has friends in Brussels,” she continued. “If the government had at-home support as it has abroad, we would have advanced more and faster.”
Moldova has suffered from the economic fallout of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Moscow’s relentless bombing of key energy infrastructure has forced the former Soviet nation to turn to countries like Romania and Slovakia to secure gas and electricity provisions.
In November, Russian state-backed gas giant, Gazprom, threatened to reduce gas flows to Moldova via Ukraine after it accused Kyiv of hoarding gas supplies destined for Moldova.
Both Moldova and Ukraine denied the claims and accused the Kremlin of energy blackmail.
The Moldovan government’s resignation came after pressure from the opposition, which has accused Gavrilita’s cabinet of failing to negotiate a better gas deal with Russia.
According to exiled politician Ilan Shor, the country’s leadership “failed to meet the challenges and led Moldova into an energy and economic crisis.”
Gavrilita, former finance minister, rose to power in August 2021. EFE
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