Moldovan government resigns

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilitsa announced her resignation during a briefing, transmits news portal Publika.md. This decision automatically entails the resignation of the entire government.

“After a year and a half in government, the time has come to announce my resignation,” she said.

Gavrilitsa, who assumed the post of prime minister in August 2021, noted that all this time the Cabinet of Ministers has been working in a “continuous crisis” mode and against the backdrop of “energy blackmail”. The reasons for this decision are not given.

Gavrilitsa is the vice-president of the ruling Action and Solidarity Party, in 2019 she headed the country’s Ministry of Finance in the government of the then Prime Minister Maia Sandu. In 2015-2019 was the director of the Global Innovation Fund, before that she worked in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economy of Moldova.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in her social networks that she accepts the resignation of Gavrilitsa and thanked her for the work done. Now the president will have to hold consultations with parliamentary factions and nominate a candidate for the post of prime minister.

After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Gavrilitsa, in an interview with Euronews in March 2022, said that Moldova wants to join the European Union, but does not plan to join NATO. Then she explained that the principle of neutrality is enshrined in the Constitution of the country.

After receiving the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union, in June 2022, the leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity in Moldova, Igor Grosu, said that Moldova was ready to join the new EU sanctions against Russia. In January 2023, Sandu reported on a serious discussion about the country’s ability to protect itself and the possibility entry into a “larger alliance”.