When Pavel Filip became Prime Minister of Moldova in 2016, the number of projects financed from the state budget and implemented in his hometown began to increase. But in the race to implement multiple projects amounting to millions of euros in the Pănășești commune, the former Government appears to have allocated a disproportionate amount of state funds to the commune. What’s more, ahead of the February 2019 Parliamentary elections, Filip’s website advertised the development projects as his personal achievements, despite the fact that the initiatives often came from the District Council or as a result of foreign investment.

Pănășești is a commune north of Chișinău, made up of the villages of Pănășești and Ciobanca. It is the hometown of Moldova’s former Prime Minister Pavel Filip, who was nominated as the Democratic Party (PDM) Deputy for its constituency (no. 20, Strașeni) during the February 24, 2019 Parliamentary elections.

More recently, Filip has become the new leader of the Democratic Party. During a Democratic Party congress on September 7, 2019, members elected him as the replacement for Moldova’s richest oligarch, Vlad Plahotniuc, who stepped down from the party’s leadership and fled the country after the new coalition ousted his Government in June.

But despite the faith the Democratic Party has shown in Filip’s political leadership, the high number of development projects implemented in his hometown are drawing attention, because the allocation of state funds appears to be disproportionate.

The development initiatives included a number of projects like the repair of the Culture House and the local kindergarten, the installation of street lighting, the rehabilitation of roads and the renovation of the Health Center in the village of Ciobanca. But the project that outperforms them all, as well as many other projects in the country, was the construction of a sports complex, which came with a price tag of around €2.9 million (57 million lei).

What’s more, taking credit for these development projects – which were actually funded by the state or through donations from Romania’s Government  – was used as a means of bolstering Filip’s political image ahead of the February 2019 Parliamentary election.

€2.9 million sports complex “at the initiative” of Filip

In the summer of 2018, the construction of a sports complex complete with training rooms and a swimming pool began on the outskirts of Pănășești commune. It is due to be finished by the end of 2019. Although the land is public and the money being used is from state funds, both the locals and Filip are claiming that the initiative belongs to him.

“You know, I inherited my family home here, in Pănășești. I want to come here after retirement. And I don’t want to stay at home, but go to the pool instead. So, by the end of the year, we will finish the sports complex. You should go buy buy your swimming suits,” wrote the former Prime Minister on his website.

However, the Strășeni District Council told ZdG that the initiative for carrying out the project belongs to the head of the district, given that this project is a district objective. That being said, both Mihail Popa, the President of Strășeni district, and Valeriu Bujoreanu, the mayor of Pănășești commune, are members of the Democratic Party.

Following a public auction on June 18, 2018, the district authority contracted Devastcom SRL for the construction of the sports complex. The contract’s value was around €2.9 million (57 million lei) and the money was allocated from the state budget.

The district president informed ZdG that in accordance with the State Budget Law for the year 2018, Strășeni District Council benefited from around €1 million (20 million lei) for the construction of the sports complex. In 2019, the national budget was expected to allocate approximately €1.9 million (37 million lei) in transfers for the continuation of construction.

Regarding the construction of the sports complex, the former prime minister told ZdG that it was the initiative of the President of Strășeni District and that the District Council allocated all of the funds.

When about how much money the Government of Moldova allocated for the construction, Filip said he could not say “how much money we have allocated and for which district; the money was allocated to the District Council.”

Other projects implemented in Filip’s native village

In addition to the multi-million euro sports complex, a number of smaller development initiatives in Pănășești have also been attributed to Filip. These go as far back as 2015 and continue up to the present day. While many of the projects are state funded, others are financed through foreign development money. The timeline and cost breakdown is as follows: 

2016 – The National Ecological Fund allocated about 18,000 euros (352,600 lei) to supply water to the Pănășești kindergarten. The mayor of the Pănășești commune, Valeriu Bujorneanu, told ZdG that since 2011, the Migor Plus company has been under contract to supply these works, but the 62,000 euros (1.2 million lei) they are owed hasn’t been paid in full. The Ecological Fund is still 15,492 euros (301,000 lei) in debt to the company the Commune Hall contracted.

2015 – The Social Investment Fund of Moldova (FISM) allocated a total of 21,000 euros (400,000 lei) to connect the kindergarten in the village of Pănășești to natural gas. This was granted through the Government of Romania’s Program for technical and financial assistance for pre-school institutions in Moldova.

2017- The State Road Fund allocated about 44,000 euros (862,600 lei) for the repair of roads in the Pănășești commune.

The state budget also allocated around 18,000 euros (340,000 lei) for the technical project of water supply and sewage treatment for the Pănășești commune, around 20,000 euros (380,000 lei) for the extension of street lighting, about 3,000 euros (60,000 lei) for the reconstruction of Alexandru cel Bun street and around 2,000 euros (40,000 lei) for the reconstruction of the Culture House.

The FISM allocated approximately 26,000 euros (500,000 lei) for a gas connection and repairs of the kindergarten in the village of Ciobanca, within the Government of Romania’s Program for technical and financial assistance for pre-school institutions in Moldova.

The Strășeni District Council also allocated around 3,000 euros (55,500 lei) from the district budget for services and technical expertise needed for the construction and repair of the Panășești gymnasium’s roof. The Strășeni District Council later contracted the company Devastcom SRL for the repair of the roof. The total cost allocated from the district budget was around 72,000 euros (1.4 million lei)

All total, around 113,000 euros (2.2 million lei) were allocated for these development projects in 2017.

2018 – The state budget allocated approximately 19,000 euros (361,000 lei) for the  repair of roads in the commune. The Filip Government also allocated around 216,000 euros (4.2 million lei) for the reconstruction of the Culture House. In July 2018, the Commune Hall signed an approximately 407,000 euro (7.9 million lei) contract with SC Luxgaz SRL for the reconstruction of the Culture House. According to the mayor of the commune, Valeriu Bujoreanu, SC Luxgaz SRL received half of the value of the contract, given that the project was no longer being financed. Bujoreanu said he was sure that he would receive the rest of the money from the state budget, but because of the elections it was not allotted. The mayor confirmed that he was waiting for the budget rectification for 2019 and that he requested the Ministry of Finance allocate the funds.

Around 26,000 euros (500,000 lei) were also allocated in 2018 for the extension of street lighting in the locality. And according to the Strășeni District Council, the National Insurance Company in Medicine allocated around 49,000 euros (950,000 lei) for the capital repair of the Ciobanca Health Office. As the founder of the project, the Strășeni District Council contributed around 1,000 euros (20,000 lei) upon its implementation.

The Commune Hall also signed a contract of around 7,000 euros (135,300 lei) for the design of the repair works at the kindergarten in Pănășești. In addition, the Strășeni District authority signed a contract worth over 436 thousand lei to repair the canteen of the Pănășești gymnasium.

All total, approximately 309,000 euros (6 million lei) were allocated for these development projects in 2018.

2019- The state budget allocated around 19,000 euros (367,500 lei) for the repair of roads in the commune. Meanwhile, the FISM allotted around 165,000 euros (3.2 million lei) for the capital repair of the roof, the thermal insulation of the walls and the lay out of the kindergarten territory in the village of Pănășești, through the Government of Romania’s Program for technical and financial assistance for pre-school institutions in Moldova. The Education Department of Strășeni also signed a contract worth around 4,000 euros (85,600 lei), with the company Elve-Construct SRL, for construction-assembly works at the same gymnasium canteen.

All total, approximately 180,000 euros (3.5 million lei) were allocated for these development projects in 2019.

Boosting Filip’s Political Image

In 2018, Valeriu Bujoreanu, the Democrat Party mayor of Pănășești commune, offered former prime minister Pavel Filip the title of honorary citizen of the commune. When asked why Filip received this title, the mayor mentioned the reconstruction of the Culture House and the construction of the sports complex.

Bujoreanu also said that if he were prime minister, “in the first place, he would have also helped his native town.”

Ahead of the February 2019 Parliamentary elections, Filip’s website began advertising his “merits” to his fellow villagers in Pănășești.

Posts on the site claimed that thanks to him “many things” had been done in the village, despite the fact the projects realized “at Filip’s initiative” were financed with public money or through donations from the Government of Romania.

In the February 24 Parliamentary elections, 76.5 percent of participants in the constituency voted for Pavel Filip. Some said they voted for him because of the things he does in the village, mentioning the sports complex and the Culture House. Others said they voted for him because he is their fellow villager, because he is good at heart or just a good guy. Meanwhile, the elders claimed that he increased their pensions at Christmas and Easter.

But some experts remain skeptical about the former prime minister’s actions.

“The prime minister may have asked the ministries to allocate money for the locality or maybe the local public authorities demonstrated servitude to the ‘boss,’ which is not correct,” said Viorel Rusu, an expert from Moldova’s Congress of Local Authorities (CALM).

“The funds should be distributed according to objective criteria, not depending on the will of any decision maker. In most states, the money is allocated according to a certain formula and the corresponding territorial administrative authorities are allocated means for development, and no administrative unit can be higher than the other,” Rusu explained. 

“The principle of equity should be respected, for this is the law on administrative decentralization. All administrative-territorial authorities must be given sufficient means for development. If there are poorer localities, then there must be means to help raise the level of the territorial administrative unit,” Rusu said.

Despite the claims on his webpage about his personal merits in delivering the projects, when ZdG requested a comment from Filip on the projects implemented in Pănășești he denied that they were carried out at his sole initiative. Instead, he stated that he just consulted with his colleagues, the mayor of the commune and the district president, as they are all colleagues of the same team, the Democratic Party.

“People think I am to be credited with all this, because I helped in the accomplishment of these projects, being from the village of Pănășești and [sic] I will help them every time I have the possibility. But I wasn’t biased,” Filip said.

Daniela Calmîș, 

Foto: Ecaterina Alexandr, 

Video: Ecaterina Alexandr,