Former Moldovan MP Marina Tauber has commented on what she describes as the beginning of a large-scale sell-off of state assets announced by Prime Minister Vasile Tofan.
According to Tauber, the new government has chosen to continue what she calls the same “old criminal course.” She was referring not only to Tofan’s statements but also to comments made by Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu, who recently said:
“Some enterprises will obviously have to be privatized after an assessment. Buildings that we are not using should be transferred to investors who can develop businesses, focusing on investments that can be launched quickly, for example in the services sector. He has some interesting ideas that we will analyze and, of course, support.”
Tauber noted that Grosu announced the government’s plans to privatize state-owned property with a smile, while arguing that the actual mechanism for transferring enterprises—including those of strategic importance—to private ownership is far removed from the optimistic picture presented by the authorities. According to her, companies are first deliberately driven into financial distress, declared inefficient, and then sold for a fraction of their value.
“Indeed, why invest in developing and modernizing the economy when everything can simply be auctioned off?
PAS has long relied on the same scheme: first an enterprise is pushed into crisis, then declared ‘inefficient,’ and finally put up for sale. The strategic chemical plant Izomer was sold for a mere 9.5 million lei. Such a transaction can hardly be described as the sale of an asset—it is more like giving away national property for pennies to those who were in the right place at the right time.
Moldova’s railway is being methodically dismantled with surgical precision and particular cynicism. Locomotives are going to one buyer, railcars to another, and the prestigious headquarters in central Chișinău to a third. Giurgiulești—the country’s only seaport and a strategic national asset—has been handed over to Romania’s partners.”
Tauber also argued that these decisions are being made without public consultation or consideration for the opinions of employees working at the affected enterprises. She stated that Moldovan citizens have effectively been excluded from decisions concerning companies that previous generations built and developed.
Concluding her remarks, the former MP reiterated that she views the government’s actions as a continuation of what she called a long-standing criminal policy. In her opinion, any government pursuing such an approach will eventually face public rejection. She warned that while officials remain silent and parliamentary leaders smile today, the public will ultimately judge those responsible, regardless of their promises of modernization.
“I would like to remind these ‘yellow’ businessmen that Moldova is not a storefront full of discounted goods. It is home to millions of people. It is the land of our ancestors. It is our heritage, our culture, and our future—something we have a duty to protect. And there will be no place in our nation’s history for those who sell their homeland,” Tauber said.
