2023-12-26 19:12:47
Maia Sandu has bet everything on Europe, and for the moment her bet is winning. The Moldovan president, elected for the first time in 2020, presented herself at the time with the promise of bringing her country closer to the European Union. Three years later, on December 14, Moldova was invited to begin EU membership negotiations. Building on this success, the 51-year-old Moldovan iron lady said she wanted to continue her mandate as head of state.
“We managed to keep the peace”
In his Christmas message posted on his Facebook page on December 24, she announced her candidacy for a second term: “A few years ago we started to transform Moldova. We managed to maintain peace, to strengthen our independence. Our future is in the European family and I am committed to continuing on this path if you place your trust in me for a new mandate in 2024,” she writes.
At the same time, she announced a referendum on EU membership for autumn 2024. The result is likely to be positive, as polls indicate that 54% of Moldovans are in favor, while 24% would like return to a customs union with Russia.
Maia Sandu embodies the hopes of the generations born after the independence of this former Soviet republic. Also those of the million Moldovans who had to emigrate to Europe or the United States to study and find a career. This is the journey of Maia Sandu: this economist, who attended Harvard, first worked for the World Bank in Washington, before making a career in the administration of her country, then becoming minister of education in 2012.
The CPE summit in Chisinau
She first became known for her determination to fight against corruption and the oligarchic system firmly established in her country. Then the course of events proved him right: the war in Ukraine cost Moldova dearly, forcing the country to welcome more than 100,000 refugees and pay more for its energy. But it has earned it support from international donors and the attention of developed countries, such as France.
She gets along particularly well with Emmanuel Macron, who wanted the second summit of the European Political Community (EPC) to take place in Chisinau. The Moldovan economy is now more oriented towards Europe than towards Russia: 55% of trade is with the EU and 29% with Russia, when it was the opposite ten years ago.
A technocrat with a reputation for integrity, hardworking and tenacity, Maia Sandu has been the subject of a smear campaign in Moldova because she is single and childless. She revealed in March 2023 that the country faced the risk of a coup d’état orchestrated by Russia. A small country among the poorest in Europe, still very dependent on agriculture, Moldova has 2.6 million inhabitants, including 500,000 in a separatist region where Russian troops are stationed… This hostile environment only makes it more urgent, according to Maia Sandu, entry into the EU which she hopes for 2030.
#Maia #Sandu #proEuropean #iron #lady #run #president