Moldova’s new prime minister pledges to restore ‘order and discipline’

President Moldova Maia Sandu has reshuffled her government by appointing a top security adviser as the new Prime Minister as the former Soviet republic that shares a border with Ukraine is facing a geopolitical environment. increasingly dangerous.

Dorin Recean, 48, former Moldovan Interior Minister and senior aide, will replace Natalia Gavrilita, 45, as Prime Minister, President Sandu told reporters on Monday. Recean will have 15 days to form a new government and undergo a confidence vote in the Moldovan Parliament, where Sandu’s pro-European party controls a majority.

“The economy and security Our country needs a new vitality and the new government needs to raise the security level of the country and keep Moldova in the ranks of the world freedom and democracy,” Sandu said at a press conference in the capital Chisinau. A new administration will be established quickly, she said.

The country of 2.6 million people, Europe’s poorest, is located between Ukraine and Romania and has been under heavy pressure since the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted into military action, with occasional rocket shrapnel. fell on the territory of Moldova. On February 10, the Moldovan government confirmed that a cruise missile had passed through its airspace on the morning of the same day to the conflict zone in neighboring Ukraine.

The reduction in natural gas supplies from Russia and the destruction of energy infrastructure in Ukraine have threatened Moldova’s fuel supplies, forcing the country to turn abruptly to resources from the West.

Last year, the Moldovan government put its energy bill at $1 billion, or about 8% of the country’s economy.

Moldova applied to join the European Union (EU) and won its candidacy last June, the same day as Ukraine. Chisinau has received hundreds of millions of euros over the past year from the EU and other international donors to help keep the country afloat.

Promising to restore “order and discipline” to Moldova’s institutions in carrying out reforms, the new Prime Minister Recean said his priority would be to breathe new life into the economy, and strengthen it. security in a complex geopolitical context.

He will ensure Moldova fulfills the EU’s requirements, “not because we need to check some points, but because they will bring prosperity to the country”, he told a news conference with Ms. Sandu. .

Sandu said the reformed government “needs to continue and accelerate the process of cleaning up Moldova’s justice system, because this is the commitment we have made to the people.”.

Minh Duc (According to Bloomberg, NPR)