Moldova Reshuffles Government After Tight EU Referendum

(Bloomberg) -- Moldova’s prime minister announced changes to his cabinet line-up after the nation’s pro-Western president pledged a reshuffle following a referendum on European Union membership.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The vote on joining the EU last month was supported by a razor-thin margin as pro-Russian forces sought to exploit discontent with the economy and a lack of tangible results in reforming the justice system and fighting corruption. That prompted President Maia Sandu to say during presidential elections that she’d seek changes in government to speed up reforms.

Prime Minister Dorin Recean on Monday appointed Daniela Misail-Nichitin as interior minister and Ludmila Catlabuga to the agriculture brief. Vladimir Bolea, the former agriculture minister, takes the infrastructure portfolio following the resignation of Andrei Spinu.

“It’s necessary to speed up things, not just replace people,” Recean said. There needs to be better and faster results in justice, security, adjustment to EU rules and industrialization of agriculture, as well as in rebuilding road and rail infrastructure, he told reporters in Chisinau.

Sandu aims for the country of 2.6 million, wedged between EU member Romania and Ukraine, to join the bloc by 2030. But Russia, which has dominated Moldova’s energy resources and political system in the more than three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has sought to thwart the country’s Western path.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.