The European Union is a dream for many Moldavians. Three quarters of the population has a positive attitude towards a possible EU membership. But currently the country is still far from that.
At this moment Moldova is at a political crossroads. But will it move into the direction of the EU?
Read the rest of this article »
A brothel in Turkey gets raided by the police. Everybody inside gets arrested. One of them is the Moldovan Natasha. Although she is forced to work as a prostitute, she ends up as a criminal in a terrible Turkish prison. The conditions are harsh. Natasha receives no medical or physical help. She has to pay for her food and to make things worse, she is humiliated by the guards.
“Everything about this example is true,” says Lilia Gorceag. “Except the name.” Gorceag worked with Natasha as a psychologist at the International Organization of Migration. The organisation has a shelter for victims of human trafficking in one of the suburbs of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.
Read the rest of this article »
In the past years Moldova has become too dependent on the money people from abroad send to the country, experts say. “It’s like living on drugs and it’s called remittances,” says economist Ionita Veaceslav, who works for a social economic think thank IDIS Viitorul in Chisinau. He expects Moldova to be in troubled water within a few months.
Estimates maintain at least a quarter of the work force is not inside the country’s borders. Many of them work in Russia and Western Europe, sending money to relatives back home. In 2007 remittances were good for a stunning 36 per cent of Moldova’s GDP. This makes the country together with Tajikistan the leader in the world when talking about dependency on money from people working abroad.
Read the rest of this article »
“Change doesn’t come overnight,” says Mihai Pascovschi. “But we have to be patient and believe in the things that we are doing.” The twenty two year old is an optimist in a country full of pessimists. “Our generation wants immediate change, or they give up. But we come from a really bad situation, and there is a long way to go.”
Since the age of 16 Pascovschi has been involved in politics. He talks full of passion about it. For a long period he was vice-president of the youth organization of the Liberal Party in Moldova. Now he’s trying to get his way into the political arena.
Read the rest of this article »
