ADAM REICHARDT: I would like to start with a question about the situation in Moldova and get your position as mayor of the biggest city, the capital city. How has the war in Ukraine changed Moldova? And how has it changed the situation in your city specifically since February 2022?
ION CEBAN: There were respective major challenges related to the economical and social situation. If to talk about social situation, of course, it was a hard to organize and manage the exile crisis. For us it was truly very challenging due to the fact that Chișinău was the main hub for receiving the refugees in Moldova. The first refugees that crossed the border were housed in the municipal hub, which at that time could accommodate from 1,000 to 3,000, even 4,000 people. We set up 45 centres and we had days erstwhile it was essential to accommodate and supply hot meals and all kind of care: medical care, social assistance, intellectual assistance, especially to women and kids, before they left Moldova. Refugees mostly stayed 3 days to 5 days in Chișinău before moving on. This happened mainly until May 15th 2022. After that, the situation became a small bit easier to manage. Fortunately, we had quite a few people come out and help. There were civilians who provided meals, clothes and another necessities, but there were besides private businesses which were active in helping to manage this process.
We dispatched at that time more than 800 public servants to manage the crisis, which dealt only with crisis management. More info can be found on our dedicated site: help.chisinau.md. Of course now it’s a large challenge due to the fact that there are officially 33,000 Ukrainians in the city; and out of them 8,000 are kids. I say officially, but we estimation that the number of people could be much higher. Now the biggest challenge is to integrate these people into the society. This includes enrolling the kids in schools and kindergartens, creating and offering jobs and another ways to connect them with Moldovan society. And we are doing that in Chișinău.
Of course, the second large challenge is related to the energy crisis. There was a period of time erstwhile the price of gas, for example, was 7 times higher than it was in December 2021. The rising prices of electricity and gas have definitely influenced the financial situation in the city. The prices for natural materials which were being imported from Ukraine besides went up substantially. This had an impact on the budget and certain projects weren’t implemented. The situation is more unchangeable now, but it is inactive rather hard for the city.
Did you receive any assistance from western partners, specified as the European Union, to deal with the crisis?
Yes, assistance was provided mostly on the national level. But as we were told in European chancelleries and from Washington, the assistance is for all Moldovan. Assistance was received especially for managing the energy crisis and covering a part of the cost of the surviving increases. I think it was crucial during this period. Of course, we as a city, had quite a few assistance from our sister cities, from regions all across the EU.
This October is rather an crucial period for Moldova. There will not only be a presidential election, but besides a simultaneous referendum on the country’s future. I am curious about your opinion on this thought to combine the referendum on Moldova’s EU way with the election, and what do you anticipate the result to be?
The only thing that I can say is that it was a small bit risky to make specified a move. If the referendum fails, then it will be a large problem for Moldova. We, as a part of the National alternate Movement (a fresh centrist and pro-EU political organization led by Ion Ceban – editor’s note), will run for and ask people to vote for EU integration. We will start as it is legally permitted, so the registration process for the referendum in September and the run from September 20th, for 1 month. Even if it is not going to be an easy process, I do hope the consequence will be “pro” [EU integration], but everybody will gotta work for this result. And what’s crucial is that nobody tries to monopolize this, but to work together to get the essential consequence as a final issue for the referendum. As for the presidential election, our organization will not participate and we will not have our candidate.
If I may ask a bit more about that, due to the fact that you previously were considered to be a candidate, possibly even a competitive candidate, but you decided not to run, as you mentioned. Can you explain a small bit why this is the case?
I feel that in the current context, first of all, it is about working and engaging with the citizens of Chișinău. We had municipal elections in the autumn last year and I promised then that I will be together with the citizens and helping them solve their problems. And I have said that even before the elections that I am not curious in participating in the presidential election, and I have my commitment to the people of Chișinău. The second reason is that we truly think that the most crucial elections are in the next year, which are the parliamentary elections. So we are preparing for that election to have a good result.
So you plan to focus primarily on the parliamentary elections?
Moldova is simply a parliamentary country and it is crucial that the main decisions are being made in the parliament; of course that is not to diminish the function of the president.
On the EU integration side, possibly you could talk about any of the challenges that, in your opinion, Moldova faces in terms of EU integration and what the EU can do to aid with any of these challenges?
I think the EU is doing rather a lot even today. So at least this dynamic will be maintained. We face many challenges, from quality of life issues to infrastructure projects, social projects and many another areas which are crucial for average people. Of course, erstwhile we talk about standards, the key is to improve overall governance in the country. This means focusing on talented and professional people who are able to make things better and faster. The EU can besides aid with that.
Another challenge that Moldova faces is simply a advanced level of emigration from the country. Do you see that if things can improve there is simply a anticipation that Moldovans will start coming back?
This is connected to what I said before, it is about the quality of governance. If you improve the quality of life at home, increase standards and offer programmes, people will see that improvement and be encouraged to come back and become active in different spheres, especially business. As you improve the quality of surviving and making business easier, the chances for returning back will surely increase. Right now the dynamic is inactive very low and we request to work on that. Of course the pandemic, the energy crisis and the war besides play a function here.
As mayor of Moldova’s capital city, I would like to ask you about the importance of global cooperation between cities. For example, you’re in Warsaw gathering with the city administration and you’ll be going to Lublin to discuss investments. How do these relations aid with your city’s development?
I will give 1 tiny example. With Lublin we are a partner on 1 large European task which has more than 3 million euros of financing. It is rather ambitious and we consider that rather challenging – since it is just 1 of many specified projects we are participating in Poland. But it is truly crucial for us and it can aid drive our interior agenda better and faster. Through these types of projects, we have access to EU funds which aid us undertake fresh policies and adopt different approaches to akin challenges faced by these cities in the past – so there is no request to reinvent the wheel. There are quite a few challenges that have already been solved and I would say from our experience that our partners are truly happy to share them with us.
Ion Ceban is a Moldovan politician and the current mayor of Chișinău. He is the leader of the comparatively fresh organization – National alternate Movement.
Adam Reichardt is the editor in chief of New east Europe and co-host of the Talk east Europe podcast.
