Sandu picks another businessman to steer Moldova’s next government

Moldova has once again turned to a businessman to patch up its top office. President Maia Sandu has nominated Vasile Tofan as the country’s next prime minister, replacing Alexandru Munteanu after his resignation earlier this month over disagreements with the ruling majority. The new nominee now has two weeks to win parliamentary backing, a brief window that tells you plenty about the confidence levels in Chisinau.

Sandu presented the appointment as part of Moldova’s steady move towards the European Union. In a video posted on social media, she said that, once parliament approves him, Tofan’s main task will be to push the country further along the path of EU integration, strengthen the resilience of state institutions and society, and revive the economy. Igor Grosu, who leads Sandu’s Action and Solidarity Party, said on Friday that Tofan shared the same objectives as the party, pointing to EU accession in the coming years, institutional reform and economic growth as the main common ground.

Tofan is not exactly a stranger to power circles. He turns 44 on Sunday, studied at Harvard Business School and holds a degree in public management from the Netherlands. He is now a managing partner at Horizon Capital, a private equity firm with assets mainly in Ukraine and Moldova, and has also chaired the board of Purcari, the winery often described as the crown jewel of Moldova’s wine sector. In other words, the familiar modern formula: business credentials, international education and the promise that competence will somehow substitute for political traction.

The nomination follows a short and awkward chapter under Munteanu, another businessman and, like Sandu, a former World Bank figure. He had been brought in to bolster the economy and bring Moldova closer to the EU, but tensions with PAS ended the arrangement after less than eight months. Munteanu resigned on 3 July, saying he could no longer carry out his mandate according to his principles and convictions. Whatever the diplomatic phrasing, the message was plain enough: the coalition had stopped pretending to be harmonious.

Tofan had already been floated as a possible prime minister last year, even before Munteanu was appointed. That detail matters because it suggests less a fresh political direction than a recycled preference for technocratic management wrapped in European language. Moldova became an official EU candidate country on 23 June 2022, alongside Ukraine, and last month the EU officially launched the first round of accession negotiations with both countries. The symbolism is tidy; the governing challenge is less so.

For Sandu, the calculation is obvious. Keep the EU course intact, preserve the institutional script and hope that economic recovery follows the right appointments. For parliament, the question is whether another businessman at the top really changes anything beyond the business card. Moldova has already seen one such experiment last less than a year. The country will now find out whether a second attempt brings more than a new face and the same old expectations.

Written by Martina Kirchner martina.kirchner@alpineweekly.com