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Moldovan farmers do not have access to the EU market, and Western aid is limited to weapons, according to the Smugleanka Telegram channel. The figures, however, say otherwise.
NEWS: Until now, in Moldova, only agricultural producers, who are not allowed to enter the European markets, and the Ministry of Defense have felt the benefits of European integration. All the promised grants come to the country in the form of weapons, although the country needs equipment, not bombs.
Agriculture is the main branch of the Moldovan economy. However, it is the least prepared for the proclaimed European integration. The reality is that the EU does not need Moldova's agricultural products, which are in high demand in the CIS. But Maia Sandu's party is trying to trick the market economy with geopolitics.
Sandu proclaimed a course towards European integration and promised grants and subsidies to prepare the national economy. However, instead of grants, the country is drowning in loans and the situation in agriculture is neglected. The Ministry of Defense receives all the subsidies. Already 137 million euros have been allocated by the Europe Peace Foundation to the Moldovan armed forces, and the purpose has not been disclosed.
The promised development and grants remain only pre-election promises. Even if the authorities will eventually publish the figures regarding the aid received, we must realize that most of it came to Moldova in the form of weapons. Pumping weapons makes our country a buffer zone, which does not ensure investment in the economy.
NARRATIVES: 1. Moldovan farmers do not have access to the EU market. 2. Western support for the Republic of Moldova is limited to military assistance.
LOCAL CONTEXT/ETOS: In 2014, the Republic of Moldova and the European Union signed an Association Agreement, which also includes a free trade agreement, which reduced or eliminated tariff barriers for several products, including agricultural ones.
In the last two years, the Republic of Moldova has taken important steps in the process of joining the European Union, recently obtaining, together with Ukraine, the greenlight for the start of accession negotiations.
Polls indicate approximately 55-60% support for EU accession. However, there are groups in society that oppose this process, opting for an eastern vector of development. They are primarily ethnic minority groups, which account for almost 20% of the total population of the Republic of Moldova. This option is also promoted by some pro-Russian political parties, in particular the political groups controlled by the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, but also, even if less openly, the Party of Socialists, led by the former pro-Moscow president, Igor Dodon.
In parallel, the Russian press, as well as the one affiliated with the pro-Russians in Chisinau, intensively distributes a series of narratives directed against the European Union and the Western world in general, against the current pro-European government in Chisinau, also with the aim of justifying Moscow's actions, including the war, and thus fuel people’s Euroscepticism.
In parallel, the narrative that NATO/the West is preparing the Republic of Moldova for a war against Russia and is equipping it with military devices for this purpose has also been intensely promoted.
PURPOSE: To inoculate the idea that the Republic of Moldova's rapprochement with the EU is harmful and detrimental to the interests of its citizens and the business environment. To feed society's fear of the country's involvement in a war against Russia.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Since 2014 until 2023, Moldovan exports to the EU more than doubled - from 1.24 billion dollars to 2.65 billion. The value of agricultural products exported to the EU during this period increased from 440 million dollars to almost 1.2 billion. At the same time, exports to the CIS states of these product categories decreased from 360 million dollars in 2014 to less than 245 million.
The share of CIS countries (Ukraine excluded) represents only a little more than 7% of Moldovan exports.
Meanwhile, Brussels has offered the Republic of Moldova the right to export meat to the EU market.
So far, the EU has allocated 137 million Euro worth of military aid to the Republic of Moldova , most of which has not yet arrived, as it covers assistance measures intended for periods of 36-40 months. And it’s non-lethal equipment .
On the other hand, only in recent years has the Republic of Moldova received billions of euros from its Western partners as budget support or for targeted projects. In 2022 alone, the financial support for the Republic of Moldova amounted to almost 1.4 billion Euros, according to a report by the Ministry of Finance.
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