Moldova is often held up as an EU enlargement success story. Beneath the reform headlines lies a country shaped by decades of economic pressure, Russian interference—and politics driven as much by survival as ideology.
In this episode, Jessica Hendrick speaks with Dumitru Alaiba, Moldova’s former deputy prime minister and minister of economic development and digitalisation; and Maia Machavariani, director of programmes at the Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy working on the RE-ENGAGE project. Dumitru argues that Moldova is proof that “Russia can lose” after its repeated failed attempts to derail the country’s European trajectory. At the same time, RE-ENGAGE research reveals a gap: Moldovans still trust informal networks more than the state itself.
Drawing on this, and Dumitru’s experience governing through war, energy blackmail, inflation and political destabilisation, Jessica, Maia and Dumitru discuss Moldova’s “final divorce from Moscow”, the stakes behind this weekend’s local election and what Moldova’s chairing of the Council of Europe reveals about Europe’s wider battle against disinformation and democratic backsliding.
Why did Russia fail to derail Moldova’s recent election? Can the EU make its promise to Moldova feel real? What happens when citizens trust neighbours more than their own government?
Further reading:
RE-ENGAGE policy recommendations on Eastern Europe
This podcast was recorded on May 8th, 2026.
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