We say goodbye to 2021- a year full of question marks. Knock on 2022. How will it find us? More peaceful, more optimistic, more hopeful, or tired of waiting? It will be warm in the house, there will be bread on the table, haters will be at the windows, sowers will be sowing… Traditionally, at the end of the year, the question of how the year went, what was our life like, what would we like for the coming year? 2021 is leaving. What would we take with us into 2022?

Stanislav Pavlovschi, lawyer, politician

This is a question I don’t think it would be fair to answer for everyone. We must each have our answer here. I don’t think there was anything special worth taking into the year 2022, maybe just the hope that we and our loved ones will be healthy, living in peace and understanding. I want our people to finally understand that their fate is in their own hands. I don’t want to disappoint anyone, but I don’t think that anything good is in store for us in the coming year either. Life will be even harder! For many reasons. The specific nature of our country is such that not everything is as it seems: democrats are not democrats, communists are not communists, liberals are not liberals, pro-Europeans are not pro-Europeans, and so on. This is where our troubles and disappointments come from.

Alexandru Slusari, former member of the Parliament, Vice President of the Dignity and Truth Political Platform

2021 was one with many hopes, still unrealized. We managed to drive out of power the criminal-political groups Plahotniuc, Platon, Shor, and Dodon. All the prerequisites for reforming the country have appeared, but, unfortunately, more and more people are becoming disillusioned with the current governance. The good times feel better for those who served the previous regimes, such as Musteață, Morari, Cernat, Ciocoi, etc… Prices are out of control, in the justice we remain with two prosecutors and the promotion of judges from Plahotniuc’s harem. Cleaning up the system, I don’t know why, is limited to firing mid-level employees of the institutions, while the management of the National Agency for Energy Regulation, the Court of Accounts, and the National Bank remain safe. On the other hand, Dodon who was bribed remains at large, even though the Prosecutor General has been dismissed, and we still see no movement on several high-profile cases. Instead, we see the mistakes of the current government fuelling an eventual revival of oligarchic and anti-European forces. What do we get in 2022? The hope is that things can be quickly corrected and real reforms started.

Ecaterina Mardarovici, Women’s Political Club 50×50

First of all, we should take Moldova’s success on the Western dimension with us and amplify the European integration processes. I think this is where we have achieved the most since the July elections. In 2022, we should also take with us Moldova’s success in terms of women’s participation in politics and decision-making. This has made me proud and optimistic for our future, even if it has been a tough year. I’m also happy for my family – which I wish for everyone, that we arrived relatively healthy at the end of the year.

Anatol Țăranu, political analyst

In 2022, we must take with us the hope, which is still alive, the hope that the reforms started in 2021, in the justice, economy, etc., will be completed in 2022. This hope is based on a pro-European parliamentary majority, with politicians willing to make reforms, even if in 2021, along with hopes, moments of disappointment began to appear, linked to the fact that there is no well-structured concept of reforms. Reforms are often done in haste, experience builds up slowly, and all this leads to mistakes. Relations with the West remain essential. That’s where the biggest support comes from. If there is an erosion of image at home, we see unanimous support abroad, especially for Maia Sandu.