Moldova's Leftist President Moving Toward Center

On February 11, in Chisinau, President Igor Dodon assembled Moldova’s ambassadors accredited abroad and delivered policy guidelines to them in two speeches: one to the plenary conference and another to Moldova’s ambassadors accredited to European institutions, European Union member states and other Western countries. These presidential guidelines strongly emphasize Moldova’s relations with the EU in the general context of the country’s “balanced foreign policy.” The minister of foreign affairs and European integration, Aureliu Ciocoi, and Prime Minister Ion Chicu—a long-time confidant of Dodon’s—reinforced the president’s policy guidelines in their own speeches to the assembled Moldovan ambassadors (Moldpres, President.md, Mfa.gov.md, February 11).