MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Moscow is ready to cooperate with Moldova’s new parliament and government, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev wrote on Facebook, adding that the Moldovan Constitutional Court should take measures to improve situation in the country rather than destroy its political system.
"Moldova is facing a man-made crisis, and the Constitutional Court is oddly enough fueling it," he said. "As soon as parliamentary parties came to an agreement on forming a government and appointing a prime minister, the Constitutional Court declared the decision invalid. Moreover, it demanded that the parliament be dissolved, suspended the country’s president from office and appointed an acting prime minister," the Russian lawmaker noted, adding that the Moldovan Constitutional Court had violated the principle of separation of powers.
"Instead of protecting the political system, the Court started to destroy it, going beyond its mandate because the task had been imposed on the Court by some external powers that are used to rule the country as if it were their company," Kosachev said.
However, according to him, the external powers have eventually decided to deal with the parliament and the newly formed government. In particular, a joint statement issued by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiation Johannes Hahn says that the European Union is ready to work with the newly created parliament and government.
"Russia shares the same position. I believe it is the only way to overcome the current political crisis in the country and it would make more sense if the Constitutional Court made everything possible to improve the situation rather than disrupt the efforts of the president, parliament and government. Life actually doesn’t end today," the Russian senator emphasized.
Situation in Moldova
Moldova’s parliament has been trying to create a ruling coalition and form a government since the February elections. Only on June 8, the Party of Socialists supporting President Igor Dodon managed to reach an agreement with the pro-EU ACUM bloc to oppose the Democratic Party led by oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, which controlled the former parliament and cabinet. The leader of the Party of Socialists Zinaida Greceanii was elected the parliament’s speaker, and the government was formed with Maia Sandu, the leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity, a part of the Acum bloc, as the prime minister.
The Democratic Party refused to recognize the new government and turned to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the parliament’s resolutions were illegitimate as the parliament had failed to form a government within 90 days (starting on March 9, when the lawmakers received their mandates).
After that, the Constitutional Court authorized acting Prime Minister and member of the Democratic Party Pavel Filip to sign a decree on the parliament’s dissolution instead of the president. Dodon described the move as an attempt to usurp power.