Key Moldovan minister resigns after long coming under fire

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By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) – A key minister in Moldova, who headed pro-European President Maia Sandu’s re-election campaign and led talks for more than a year on gas supplies with Russia’s Gazprom, resigned on Monday after long being subjected to public criticism.

Andrei Spinu stepped down as minister of infrastructure and regional development. He also quit as deputy head of Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) ahead of a parliamentary election next year, which could deny the president the assembly’s full support for her campaign to join the European Union.

Sandu was re-elected for a second term last week with a smaller majority than expected. A referendum that she championed on seeking EU membership passed by a tiny majority last month.

Writing on Facebook, Spinu hoped his departure “will allow for a return to a public discussion on Moldova and not on individual personalities as our country’s enemies would like.”

He said he was “now certain more than ever that Moldova is on the right path. I have been attacked almost daily without anyone offering evidence. I continued to carry out my duties in our country’s interests.”

Spinu led talks through 2019 and 2020 with Gazprom to provide Russian gas for ex-Soviet Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries lying between Ukraine and Romania.

Spinu’s detractors accused him of clinching deals which allegedly lacked transparency and subjected Moldovans to Europe’s highest gas prices. Moldova has since switched to European gas suppliers.

He came under further pressure for what opponents said were excessively expensive road construction projects.

Political analyst Vitalii Andrievschii said Spinu was leaving government before he would have been pushed out.

“His action shows there are big problems in the high echelons of government,” Andrievschii told Reuters.

“It is not normal for such a person to leave the ruling party seven months before decisive elections. It would seem that the PAS has no new ideas and the idea of EU integration is no longer so attractive for people.”

Prime Minister Dorin Recean last week promised to conduct a government reshuffle in the coming days.

Sandu, who enjoys backing and financial support from the EU, denounces Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and identifies Moscow – and endemic corruption – as the country’s biggest ills.

The opposition, led by the pro-Russian Socialist Party, seeks a foreign policy with greater balance between Russia and the West.